


What about Sid and Nancy...?

by Nessaiya



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, I started writing this in 2007, Java Junkies, Literati (Gilmore Girls), Lorelai loves Luke, Nobody needs Logan Huntzberger, Sid and Nancy are a thing, Team Jess, What were TPTB even thinking breaking them up?, and finished it last year..., and he loves her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-01 22:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 58
Words: 64,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10201658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nessaiya/pseuds/Nessaiya
Summary: So Luke and Lorelai break up. Again. Needed to do something about that. ‘Partings’ happened, but without the ‘I-slept-with-Christopher’-stuff…





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Dears,
> 
> I started writing this in 2007 because I was very unhappy with how season 6 ended. Up to now, I am still ignoring season 7, and I still don't know what to think about the netflix-thing. Anyway, this story quickly got out of hand, turned into a multi-chapter monster-fic, and was finished more than 9 years later. And since lately I'm spending a lot more time on AO3 than FFnet, I thought "Why not also get an account here and post my stuff?"
> 
> I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Comments are welcome, flames will be ignored, kudos are love!
> 
> Cheers,  
> Eve
> 
> Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just borrowing some characters and having fun :).

 

She could handle her need for staying in bed all day long, just like the last time. She also had the need for cookie dough under control and had stopped picking up her phone to call him every five minutes.

She even managed the decaf and the apple cravings… and one day soon she’d manage to work up enough courage to tell him. Or Rory. Or anyone else but Sookie who had found out before she could admit it to herself…

What she hadn’t thought about was that the ladder would be slippery when wet. So she only made a little sound of surprise when her foot actually slipped…


	2. That's why...

He didn’t even lift his head when the doorbell chimed. Why should he? It wasn’t as if anyone interesting would enter his diner anytime soon. There were always the same people, dealing with his grumpy self, dealing with the worst cooking since the break up… since the last break up with…

He had the sudden urge to throw someone out of his Diner…

He didn’t even want to think about it. This one was final.

It wasn’t until his guest stopped in front of the counter, looking at him patiently that he looked up. The black leather jacket was familiar. So was the thick black hair, dangling into the eyes of the young man.

  
“Could you just stop trying to give me the money back?”

  
Luke looked back down to what he had been doing before. Since his action only consisted of tearing a napkin into small little stripes Jess glanced at him confused.

  
“ Did you hear what I said, Uncle Luke?”

  
“Yeah. I said you didn’t have to pay it back.”

  
His nephew put his bag that was hanging from his shoulder down on the floor and watched him as he ripped the white tissue into small pieces.

  
“And I said that I wanted to pay it back. I owe you!”

  
“You owe me nothing!” Luke burst out while jumping up from his chair. Kirk on the table in the corner got scared and left, taking the coffee-cup with him.

  
He had scared away most of the others only by his behaviour. Which wasn’t a surprise. They had experienced his mood back then. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was worse this time. Maybe he should keep his promise he gave back then. To leave the town and not be in her way…

  
Jess just stood there, looking at him.

  
“Maybe I should just give it to Lorelai. You know, she’s way smarter in those things than you are.”

  
Judging from the face his uncle made he had just said something wrong. Preparing himself for some sort of assault Jess stepped back a little.

All Luke was doing was sitting down again.

  
“We broke up.”

  
“What?”

  
Luke looked at the younger man as if he had lost his mind.

  
“I said we broke up.”

  
“WHAT?”

  
“You heard me, Jess. I’m not saying it again.”

  
“How the hell did you manage to screw up this time?” Sitting down on a barstool, Jess took of his jacket and dropped it onto the chair next to him.

  
“Who says I’m the screw up?”

  
“Believe me, with the Gilmores it’s always us that screw up. I’m talking out of experience”, Jess sighed.

  
“Last thing I heard was that you wanted to marry in a few days.”

  
“Last thing I heard was that she wasn’t sure about us anymore”, Luke countered staring at his hands.

  
“And that’s why?”

  
“That’s why…”

  
“Luke! I can’t find the salt!” a tiny voice came out of the storeroom soon followed by a smiling head that looked around the corner. April recognized her cousin and waved at him.

  
“Hi Jess! How are you?”

  
“Hi. Fine.”

  
“You’re still monosyllabic…”

  
“Won’t change anytime soon.” He still didn’t know what to think about her.

  
“Still creeps me out…”

  
In the meantime Luke had gotten up from his place and headed over to his daughter handing her a box from the top shelf.

  
“Here you go.”

  
April got back to her task of refilling the salt and Jess gave his uncle a really confused look.

  
“That’s why?”

  
Luke sighed and sat down heavily.

“That’s why. Her mother had to go and buy some stuff for her shop so she’s stuck with me for some days.”

  
“You drove Lorelai away because of your kid?” He still didn’t get it. Though he and Lorelai didn’t get along quite well he had to admit that she was the best mother he had ever met. Which didn’t mean very much knowing the mother he’d had. But to April it should have been an adventure knowing Lorelai Gilmore. She sometimes even behaved like a 13-year old.

  
“Well, it’s a little more complicated”, Luke sighed and clamped his hands around her favourite coffeecup.

  
“I wanted to get used to this situation and then tell her. And then suddenly I let her postpone the wedding, and I tell her that she can’t meet April and that…”

  
“You told her she couldn’t meet your daughter? Are you nuts? Luke, this is weird, even for you.”

  
” I know. I know now. Got a timemachine?” he asked with a fake smile on his face and Jess grimaced.

  
“Sometimes wish I had one.”

  
“I know, son.”

  
“How long, Luke?”

  
“Little over two months… still feels like it was yesterday…”

  
The worst mistake he’d ever made.

The doorbell chimed again. Luke this time looked up asuming it was Kirk who wanted to return the coffeecup. Seing a crying, rambling Sookie standing there shocked both of the men enough to get up and go to her. She told them something about a ladder and the rain last night at highspeed-top volume pared with her wide gestures. Luke soon had enough since he couldn’t really understand anything, so he stopped her.

  
“Sookie, breathe!”

  
“I mean, what if anything serious happened to her? I can’t manage the Inn all alone, and I would be all alone, ‘cause Michel’s no help at all. He’s good at answering the phone, but…”

  
“For Pete’s sake Sookie, tell me what happened!” Luke said a little louder than he had wanted. At least that shut her up. Wideeyed she looked at both of them.

  
“Okay. And now please the slow and sorted version, Sookie”, he asked her in a gentle tone that made her tears reappear.

  
“You know the lightbulb on the veranda of the Dragonfly that’s always broken?”

  
Luke nodded. In the last few years he’d had to change it frequently.

  
“Well, it was broken again, and Lorelai wanted to change it herself.”

  
“She’s afraid of the spider that’s living up there”, the owner of Luke’s diner stated and Jess couldn’t stop himself from smirking at that comment.

  
“It moved… or it died… I don’t know. What I know is that she took the ladder and that it was wet, and that… and that…” With her tears running down her cheeks again Sookie tried desperately to speak.

  
“That what?” Luke was going to lose his last bit of patience. Not that he had ever had much of it.

  
“She slipped. She fell off that ladder and banged her head on the banister. When the ambulance arrived she was still drifting in and out of counciousness…”, Sookie cried reaching out for the ex-fiancee of her best friend.

  
Luke gathered her into his arms and looked helplessly at his nephew.

  
“She’s gonna be okay, Sookie”, was all he said, getting a weird look from the chef of the Dragonfly Inn. After releasing her he took his baseball-cap off his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

  
“I… where… where did they take her?” he finally asked.

  
“They brought her to the hospital in Woodbridge. Can’t you… you know, get there? Handle things? I really suck at things like that. Every second another thought pops up in my head, and the next second I’ve forgotten it… I…”, her voice caught and she looked at him pleadingly.

  
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sookie”, he answered while observing his shaking hand that held his cap.

  
“She would’t want me there…”

  
“Geez, Luke, as if that’s what matters now!” his nephew growled behind him, startling both Sookie and Luke. He had put his jacket back on and his car keys already in his hands.  
“I’ll drive, ‘cause both of you would just end up in the hospital next to Lorelai by now. And if you still refuse to go, I’ll take the baseball bat you have under the counter, and…”, he treatened but was cut of by his uncle.

  
“What about April?”

  
Jess shook his head and turned around.

  
“April?”

  
Her head with the dark curly hair once again appeared at the storeroom door.

  
“Yes?”

  
“We have to go to Woodbridge. Go, grab your stuff, will you?” the young man asked receiving another confused look.

  
“Okay. Will you tell me what happened?”

  
Her father closed his eyes and sighed.

  
“Stop using her as an excuse!” his nephew hissed and walked out the door.


	3. There's no such thing...

“I hate hospitals!”

Luke stopped in front of the building and almost got run over by his nephew.

“I knew I should’ve taken that baseball bat with me”, Jess growled and stared at him.

April on the other hand grabbed the hand of her father and dragged him along with her.

“Don’t you want to know if Lorelai’s fine?” she asked him while they were heading towards the room they were told she was laying in.

“Of course I want to know if she’s fine. It’s just… me and hospitals, that just doesn’t work”, he explained and squeezed her hand.

“We’re there.” Sookie pointed at a door. In front of it two nurses just were arguing.

“Maybe it’s just a joke!” one of them was just saying.

“Who would put himself as an emergency contact! That’s nuts!”

“Don’t know. But I’m sure there’s no such thing as another Lorelai Gilmore. And the phone isn’t answered. Guess why? ‘Cause the owner’s in there!”

“Actually there is”, Luke spoke up and startled the two women.

“What?!” one of them snapped.

“There’s another Lorelai Gilmore. Her daughter…”, he explained and caused the nurses to look worriedly at him as he turned pale.

“Luke?”

“They haven’t told Rory yet!” was all the older man said to Jess and started to turn around, dragging April with him.

“You know, Luke, that arm is attached to my body”, the girl teased him while Jess blocked his way.

“What’s now?”

“You go, check on Lorelai, and I’ll deal with Rory.”

“And you are?” one of the nurses wanted to know.

“He’s her fiancee”, Jess stated before Luke had the chance to say anything.

“Then we’ll get you the doctor to explain everything.”

He also had no other chance than leaving his girl with Sookie who promised to take care of her and following the two women. At least he would know that she was fine.

While Jess was on his way to New Haven.

 

***

 

The doc looked at him as every doctor had looked at him ever before. Slightly distracted… well, okay, with his mind totally somewhere else.

“Dr. Cruise, this is Luke Danes. The fiancee of Lorelai Gilmore”, the nurse introduced him to the man who just made a face as if he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“The head injury”, the nurse added.

“Ah, yes… have a seat, Mr. Danes”, the greyhaired man offered with a polite smile and fumbled with some papers.

“So… how bad is it?” Luke asked.

“Well… she’s got herself some bruised rips and a broken arm from the fall. Not to forget the concussion and a cut on her cheek we had to stich up… but otherwise everything’s fine. The baby’s also okay.”

“That’s good… that’s…”, suddenly Luke’s eyes narrowed.

“The baby??? What baby?!”

The doctor shoved his glasses up on his nose.

“So… you didn’t know she is pregnant?”

“Would explain my reaction, wouldn’t it?” Boy, he had been hanging out to long around Lorelai. Before he knew her he just would’ve answered: “Noooo…”

The doctor looked at him patiently.

“I’m sorry that you found out this way. I’m sure you want to see her now. She’s sleeping but I think she wouldn’t mind…”

Luke just looked right through the man and followed him on autopilot.

Wasn’t it better for her to stay away from such an awful man like he was?


	4. Tom Cruise said you'll be ok

The cut on her cheek looked nasty. And she was so pale. He carried a chair next to her bed and sat down, taking her hand automatically into his. He sighed and watched her breathe.

“Doc said you’re gonna be okay. You know that you’re the only woman I know who bangs her head and then gets a doctor named Thomas Cruise. That’s some new anecdote you can tell…”

He sighed again staring at her motionless form on the bed.

“He also said the baby was fine…”

She still didn’t move. There was only the steady beeping from the monitor behind her.

“You hear? Everything’s gonna be okay. And I mean everything. When you’re awake and don’t have a headache as big as the swab of cotton wool I’ve got stuffed in my head right now, then we’ll talk about everything…”

He placed a small kiss on the back of her hand.

“I don’t want it to end like this… hell, I never did want it to end at all! I promise we’ll work this out.”

Maybe it was better if he didn’t act on his promise back then…


	5. Pictures in my head

Seeing her freak out was something Jess couldn't picture. Until now. She was running around in this stunning apartment at least twice the size of everything he had lived like... ever. Currently she was searching for her car keys. At least he thought so.

“I can’t find the shirt!” she exclaimed and got herself a look that told her that she was in desperate need of a shrink.

“Rory, you are dressed. And you also can stop looking for your keys ‘cause no way in hell I’m gonna let you drive right now.”

Rory disappeared in the bathroom.

“I know that I’m dressed, thank you. I borrowed her favourite ‘Hello Kitty’ shirt, and now I can’t find it…” Reappearing she began searching under the cushions of the couch.

“Ha! Found it!” she exclaimed and held a wrinkled yellow fabric in her hand.

“So, can we go now, please? I can handle you, but I can’t handle Luke freaking out in the hospital. He’s way stronger than me and could easily kill me!”

“Luke’s with her in the hospital?” Rory asked irritated.

“Yep.” Jess opened the door of the apartment for her and led her out to his car.

“Voluntarily?” she wanted to know while she got into the car and waited for him to get in as well.

“I threatened him with the baseball bat under the counter.” Jess answered and started his car.

“Luke’s at the hospital.” She sounded both surprised and happy about that.

“What the hell did happen between the two of them? First time I saw them together I could tell Luke was in love with her. What happened?”

“April happened”, Rory growled.

“You can’t blame the kid for Luke’s not being able to keep his pants on back then”, Jess said silently and stared at the road.

“Yuk! Do you know what picture you just planted into my head?!” Rory frowned. Jess widened his eyes.

“God, did you have to say this? I’m not going to think about Luke without… jeez!”

They both laughed nervously.

“This is really like thinking about your parents having sex…” Rory smiled.

“Could you stop this right now, please?!”

“No, I mean… it’s Mom and Luke… like in Luke being my parent… Does this make any sense?”

“Well, we’re speaking of the man who made you mashed potatoes when you had the chicken pox, and bake a cake on each of your birthdays, who cried at your graduation ceremony at Chilton…” Jess smiled at the thought of that.

“How do you know about that?”

“I have my sources. I just wanted to say that except for the genes Luke very well matches the picture of your father” Jess explained.

“And after April appeared all went straight to hell.”

“Ror, please.”

“I know, I can’t blame her. She did nothing wrong. But her appearance made Luke go crazy and he hurt Mom with what he did, and then she hurt him, and… And I can’t stand it when she’s hurt. When they broke up the first time, and I had her settled, I went back to Yale. And there I don’t find myself studying or thinking ‘She’s gonna be fine’, no, I found myself crying in Paris’ arms, ‘cause Mommy and Daddy separated. And yelling at my Grandmother, because she was the reason for the break up.”

She kept getting faster with every word she said, something he recognized both of the Gilmores do when they were outraged.

“What is this with you and your mother? When Liz had this car crash back then I phoned her, she told me she broke her arm and her ankle. Luke was there to help her, fine. You move heaven and hell, to comfort her when Luke goes nuts. Or to find a ‘Hello Kitty’ Shirt.” He watched her leaning back in the seat and taking a deep breath.

“Mom left my grandparents with me when she was 17. She never told me why, just that she’d had a fight with them. Back then I didn’t know why she would do that. They had a big house and lots of money and stuff. We lived in the Independence Inn, and she had to work so hard. And then we moved into the potting shed, and afterwards into our house, and we both decorated it, and I went to kindergarten and school, and suddenly being at my grandparents wasn’t that interesting anymore…”

“Wait a minute. Your mother ran away with you when she was 17?”  He’d been together with her for a couple of months. Why didn’t he know that? On second thought… he would have run away from Richard and Emily Gilmore, too…

“Yes. Lately I began to think that they argued about my custody, with my grandparents wanting to turn me into something they couldn’t turn her into. I overheard them fighting once when I was small, on Christmas for Pete’s sake. And I knew she always would be fighting for me, but she would also give me the space to make my own mistakes. Grandma just kept saying that Mom didn’t know what she was doing… she still does. I know how Mom feels when Grandma gets like this… and still she only wants me to see the good sides of my grandparents. Never tells me how they treated her…” She was still on Gilmore-top speed and had to stop her rant to breathe. Jess smiled.

“You know, I still hear your mother scream ‘Hey, ducks!’, when she bought that animal-voice alarm clock. She didn’t have much of a childhood, eh?”

“Don’t really know. I told you she wouldn’t tell me. And you should’ve heard her when the pigs oinked”, Rory smiled back. Then suddenly she looked at him seriously.

“You haven’t told me yet, why you are here.”

“I gave Luke a check to cover everything when I lived with him. He tried to give the money back for the third time now. I figured that if I gave it to your mother he’d finally keep it. I didn’t know that they were separated.”

“Well… I’m happy you’re here. I really don’t think I would’ve been able to drive to the hospital. God, I hope everything’s okay…”

Jess took her hand in his.

“We’re talking about the woman who lived 17 years with Richard and Emily Gilmore…”

“Yeah, right. But her obvious heroism didn’t save her from falling off a ladder…”


	6. Where's the earthquake coming from?

“Why don’t I ever have a camera when I need one”, Jess whispered when he opened the door to Lorelai’s room in the hospital. Luke’s head lay next to Lorelai’s shoulder, his right hand entwined with her uninjured left one, his left sprawled out on her stomach.

Next to him Rory’s camera in her cell phone clicked.

“This is so sweet”, she sighed.

“Wish that Mommy and Daddy reconcile? “ he teased her and eventually got her to smile.

“Yes, and then I get to have a doggy and a bunny and a pony… forget the pony, I’m afraid of horses…”

“I told you this pony was old and just did lay down because it was tired…”, a drowsy voice came from the bed. Rory practically ran to her mother’s side.

“Mom! You’re awake!! And by the way, the pony died and they dragged it away on its feet!”

“Shush, kid, please not that loud. Mommy’s got a headache…” Lorelai looked around in her room.

“Sooo… this is what you get when you fall off a ladder. What are you doing here, Jess?”

“Well, actually I stopped by to give Luke the money I owed him. Then I ended up offering my services as chauffeur to both him and your daughter who couldn’t hear her cell phone”, Jess smiled and was surprised to see the woman smile back at him.

“This is probably the longest sentence I’ve ever heard from you.”

Luke shifted his hand on her stomach and this sensation made her jump. Which woke him up.

“Everything okay?” he asked her tiredly not moving anything. She just stared at his hand on her belly.

“I… I…” Why were her eyes glued to his hand?”

“I… Oh my god. They told you!”

Luke nodded and raised himself to a more comfortable position.

And then she really freaked out.

“I wanted to tell you. I just chickened out the last 100 times. I mean, we weren’t speaking, which isn’t a surprise since we broke up… I really would’ve told you, you believe me? Oh my god… did anything happen? Please… please…”

Damn tears. Why did they have to come right now? Jess and Rory just looked at her really confused while Luke just took her into his arms and kissed her forehead. Which caused the two other people in the room to look at each other really surprised.

“Lorelai, everything’s fine. Everything. I just hope we can get it right once more. Without your mother screaming at me if that’s possible”, he tried to calm her.

“You want me back? You know, I’m kind of damaged good…”, she teased under her tears and made him smile.

“Since I damaged it it’s only kind of fair I’m taking it back, isn’t it?”

“I was talking ‘bout the arm and the rips and my hurting head..:”

“Me not. I was such an idiot… I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight once I finally got you. And then a little problem arises and I behave like a complete asshole…”

She snuggled her head against his shoulder.

“Stop talking in such a disrespectful way about the father of my child…”

Luke just smiled. Jess just stared at them. Rory seemed confused, then her eyes grew wide and a smile split her face.

“Oh my god!”

Then she started to jump around with a look on her face Luke had seen the last time when Kirk announced that Pippi Longstocking would be the movie he was showing.

“Sid and Nancy!” Rory exclaimed.

“I don’t get it”, was all Jess said before Rory grabbed his hands and made him jump with her.

“Sid and Nancy”, the younger Gilmore screamed once more and looked at him as if he should know what she meant by it.

“Kiddo, I really got a headache here. And I think the people in the room beyond us wonder where the earthquake’s coming from”, Lorelai moaned, happy about the reaction of her daughter but too exhausted to keep up with it. Rory immediately stopped and let go of Jess’ hands.

“I still don’t get that Sid and Nancy thing”, Jess mumbled, while Rory went to her mother.

“Oh, Mom, I’m so happy! For both of you! You want something? Maybe an apple?” she grinned. Then her smile faded.

“I mean, this time it’s for real, isn’t it? Not just: I want an apple after I didn’t want one the last 20 years…?”

“What does ‘this time’ mean?” Luke wanted to know looking at Lorelai.

“Well… you remember that celebration, for the Inn being one of the best in Connecticut… the limo and how we didn’t make it to the buffet, just to the bar?”

Jess and Rory shared an eew-look.

Luke still looked at her until it dawned to him.

“Yes. Oh… yeah.”

“Two days later I really had a craving for apples. And since the only time I really wanted apples was when I was pregnant with Rory, I thought… well, it was false alarm, so…”

“So this whole Sid and Nancy and talking ‘bout apples means you’re pregnant?” Jess asked just causing all heads to turn towards him.

“Boy, that took long”, Rory grinned at her mother.

“Don’t blame him, he’s a man… and a Danes.”

He surprised them by smiling at that comment.

“Congratulations…”

Lorelai smiled back at him.

“Thank you. Some more cousins for you… by the way: Luke, where’s April? Wasn’t she staying with you…?”

“How do you know… no, let me guess: Babette? Miss Patty?” Luke asked.

“Where’s the girl? You didn’t leave her alone?!”

“Of course not. She’s with Sookie.”

At that Lorelai closed her eyes.

“Oh Luke… Anna didn’t like April being with me… what would she say ‘bout Sookie?”

“I don’t care. I trust Sookie. And if she doesn’t like it, well then it’s her problem. So, who told you?”

“Actually it was Kirk. He asked me if he can buy the Twickham-house, now, that our ‘affaire’ was over… Why would he ask me if he could buy the Twickham house?”

“I’ll kill Kirk…”, Luke growled.

“Because he told me about April?” There was this tiny, shy voice again that she always used when she was insecure. When he closed her out. Luke shook his head and kissed her forehead again.

“It’s something between Kirk and me and hasn’t anything to do with you or April. I almost threw him out of the diner this morning… I don’t know why, but he seems to like my food.”

“I like your food, too”, Lorelai said a little confused.

“Believe me, you would’t now…”


	7. Big Sisters

Jess grabbed Rory’s hand and pulled her out of the room.

“Come on, I’ll buy you some coffee, and you can fill me in about this Sid and Nancy thing and why Lorelai wouldn’t like Luke’s cooking…”

The young woman smiled at him.

“You had me at ‘I’ll buy you coffee’”, she sang and began to dance in the corridor. Jess stood there, hands on his hips, shaking his head.

“You really seem happy about this.”

“Of course I’m happy! I mean, it took some time but I think now they finally got it together …”

He smiled.

“Mommy and Daddy reconciled.”

“Mommy and Daddy reconciled… and I get a little sister or brother out of the deal. That’s better than a pony.” She stopped dancing and began walking down the corridor towards the elevator. Jess followed her.

“I’ll be a big sister… how does that feel?” she asked pressing the button.

“How should I know? I’ve never been a big sister”, he grinned.

“But you’re going to be a big brother…” Seeing his face fall she stopped talking.

“Please tell me Liz told you about the baby…”

“I haven’t talked to Liz for… oh, once she phoned me, but kept complaining about TJ. I thought she was going to throw him out…”

They got into the elevator heading for the cafeteria.

“She did. Luke wanted to beat him up because he left his pregnant wife only to play matchmaker afterwards to get them together again. I’m sorry I told you… maybe your mom…”

“Liz being Liz I would have found out when the kid was starting school.”

“But…”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve never been a big part of her life. I just hope she does better with the new kid…”

“She didn’t screw up everthing with you”, Rory smiled and hooked her arm on his as the doors of the elevator opened.

“Sooo… I remember someone here wanted to buy me coffee…”


	8. The Tayloring of Emily Gilmore

“Tell me again, why are we here?” Lorelai wanted to know while reajusting her right arm in the sling she had to wear.

“You promised your mother you would come to Friday night dinner… you know she freaked out once Rory told her accidentially you’ve been in hospital… three days after they released you”, Luke answered, also staring at the big wooden door of the Gilmore residance. He so did not want to go inside. On the other hand he didn’t want the woman he loved and that carried his baby to be alone with these people. Both of them still had difficulties about being together again, not having gone over the kissing-stage in their newly started relationship, and this meeting with her parents could very well ruin everything…

“Wait how she will freak once I tell her the big news”, Lorelai sighed and reluctantly rang the doorbell.

“Maybe she’ll be happy for us?”

“You’ve met my mother, haven’t you?”

“I have. And I always keep telling myself she can’t be that bad.”

They could hear footsteps behind the door.

“If she starts to shout, could you Taylor her?”

“What?”

“You know, when you’re arguing with Taylor… you get loud, and everybody who doesn’t know you two are doing this frequently is going to think you will kill him…”

“I’m not going to Taylor your mother”

“Coward”, Lorelai hissed as the maid opened the front door. Thank god Rory would be coming too…

“Hello, we’re selling cookies for…”, Lorelai started but was cut off by her mother approaching the door.

“For Heaven’s sake come in, Lorelai…”

Emily stopped at the door looking outside and her face hardened.

“Luke. What are you doing here? After all that has happened…”

“Mom. Luke and I are back together. Can we come in or are you going to let us stay out here all night long?” Lorelai burst out, taking Luke’s hand into hers.

“Well then… come in.” Emily led the way to the living room where Richard was already seated.

“Hello Lorelai, how…? Luke?”

“Nice to meet you again, Mr. Gilmore”, Luke said while Richard rose from the sofa.

“It’s still Richard, Luke.” They shook hands.

“Okay.”

“Lorelai and Luke reconciled, Richard”, Emily announced.

“I can see that”, Richard answered looking at the entwined hands of his daughter and her diner-man.

“Would you like a beer, Luke?” he asked the man he by now had gotten used to think of as his son in law. Seeing Luke nod Richard headed out of the living room.

As soon as he was away Emily watched her daughter sitting down carefully on the couch.

“Tell me what this means.”

“What what means, mom?”

“Please. First this crying, ‘The wedding’s not going to happen’, the break up and now: Happily ever after. I really would like to know what is going on in your mind.”

Lorelai looked at her lap trying to think of a way to answer her mother and make clear that this was not an act to upset her. Luke squeezed her hand and began to stare Emily down.

“Lorelai and I are back together. We’re sorting things out and this time, I promise we won’t screw up”, he said looking back into the stunning blue eyes of his woman. She began to smile.

Richard reappeared, two bottles of beer in his hands.

“Richard, I think one would have been enough.”

“Actually I thought I might have one myself. Luke seems to enjoy this beverage so I might give it a try…”, Richard said and handed one of the bottles to Luke. They klicked their bottles and took a sip. Emily still stared unbelievingly at her husband - drinking out of a bottle!

“Richard!”

“You know what? I like it”, Richard Gilmore grinned while sitting opposite to his daughter and her boyfriend, making his daughter smile even wider. Emily just sighed and turned to Lorelai.

“What do you want to drink, Lorelai?”

“I’d like to have water.”

“What?”

“You can also make it a coke…”

“Is this some kind of bad joke, Lorelai?”

“No mother, I would like to have a water or a coke if that is possible”, Lorelai said in her most polite voice.

“Well, then you will get water”, her mother said, this time it being her disappearing in the kitchen.

Richard looked at both of them suspiciously.

“Is there something you want to tell us, Lorelai?” he asked and noticed Luke giving her hand another squeeze.

“We want to wait until Rory is here, dad.”

“Oh… I think she called us she wouldn’t make it today. Emily mentioned something…”

“Rory isn’t coming?” Lorelai gave Luke a desperate look.

“Well, apparently Logan Huntzberger has to go back to London tomorrow, so she called and cancelled our dinner. Those two are such a lovely couple”, Emily explained reappearing from the kitchen and handing Lorelai her water.

“Thank you, mom.”

Emily poured herself a martini and sat down next to her husband. An awful silence fell over the room. Finally it was Richard who put down his beer and looked at the couple.

“Are you engaged again?”

“No…” Lorelai answered in her small voice.

“Not yet”, Luke answered in a tone that made clear he definitly had the intention to change that.

“What else for Heaven’s sake could be important enough to put up such an act?” Emily exclaimed and got herself a warning look of her husband. This time it was Lorelai who stared at her.

“I am pregnant, mother. You two are going to have a new grandchild in a little over 6 months.”

She could see that her father began to smile.

“This is wonderful…”

Emily cut him off, her face hard once again.

“So you got yourself knocked up once again. This is so you, Lorelai. Making the same mistake twice!”

“Emily!” Richard warned.

“Oh please, Richard, can’t you see? This pregnancy wasn’t planned. I bet he just got back to her because of the baby.”

Lorelai and Luke just stared at her stunned. Richard got up from the couch.

“You better stop it now, Emily!”

“Oh, I’ve just started”, his wife shouted, turning to her daughter again.

“When are you going to grow up and realize that your actions have consequences, Lorelai? You were careless and irresponsible back then and you haven’t changed a bit. Pregnant out of wedlock, and you don’t even know if this get together with diner-man will last.”

“Emily!” Richard tried to stop her again seeing the tears that started to water his daughter’s eyes. Luke had seen them too. And decided he had to do something.

Emily jumped as Luke got up from the sofa and approached her. His jaw was set and she almost could feel the muscles under his suit when he moved towards her invading her personal space.

“You better shut the fuck up now!” he growled.

“Who do you think you are to…”

“I am the man who loves your daughter more than his live. The daughter who just told you one of the most wonderful things in the world. I always told her to give you a chance, you can’t be that bad. I know she exaggerates most things but with you she was right”, he shouted at his best I-kill-you-Taylor-voice.

“Get out of my…”

“I’m not done yet! Do you even care that she’s your only child? I can’t believe you’re still dragging out this old she-got-pregnant-at-16 story. She raised one of the most amazing persons I know, built herself a life without your fucking help. Would you want to miss Rory one day? Will you always hold that grudge over her head? She’s not 16 anymore! Are you so fucking bored that you have nothing else to do than go on the nerves of other people? I’m fed up with it. I’m fed up with being insulted by you, with hearing you disapprove Lorelai’s actions. You are a horrible woman, Emily Gilmore! And if I have anything to say in it then you’re never going to meet any of my children again. Neither Rory, nor April, or Sid and Nancy! So you don’t have to suffer because of our mistakes!”

Emily by now just stared at him and got up from the couch.

“I’m going to bed”, was all she said, then she left the room.

“I need some air. I’ll wait outside in the car. See you, Richard”, Luke annouced, breathing heavily, and also went outside.

Richard sat down next to his daughter, and for the first time, at least for the first time that she could tell gathered her into an embrace and let her cry.

“Shh. Everything is going to be fine, Lorelai”, he tried to calm her and caressed her hair.

“I knew she would react like this. I came anyway. Again”, she sobbed.

“And I dragged Luke into this… again… and… god, I’m starving…”

This made both of them laugh.

“You should go outside to Luke…”

“His cooking sucks when he’s angry… and I think he really needs to calm down. Can I have dinner with you?”

This surprised Richard.

“You want to have dinner with me?”

“Well, I came here for dinner, and I assume everything is ready since the maid is standing behind us really shocked.”

When Richard turned around he could see no maid and realized that Lorelai had made a joke.

“I like your humor.”

He eased himself up from the sofa and extended his hand to help her up.

“So I assume it’s the two of us for dinner”, he smiled. Lorelai nodded and followed him into the dining room where the maid was serving, sitting down next to him.

“You may have to cut my food”, she said indicating her broken arm. He laughed once again.

They ate in silence for a while until Richard spoke up again.

“About the baby… I think this is wonderful! Luke will make an awsome father. And if you need anything, then let me know!”

“Thank you, dad… you need to meet April. She’s such a nice and smart girl. Judging from how smart both Rory and April are there’s a little Nobel-prize winner swimming in my belly.”

“Once I’ve talked to your mother…”

“Stop it, dad. She won’t change her mind. I’ll always be the 16 year old screw up for her. And I have no intention of making a step towards her. This time she has to come to me. Can we talk about something else?”

“Of course… So what could we talk about… Where did all the anvils go to?” Richard smiled and Lorelai could see that she did get some of her humor from him.

“I still haven’t found out. Maybe there’s really one big storeroom with tons of anvils… or Whiley Coyote damaged them all by throwing them at the Roadrunner…”

“I need to see this cartoon. Can I ask you one more question about the baby?”

“Sure. I just don’t want to talk about mom.”

“Why did Luke say Sid and Nancy?”


	9. Bump

Luke didn’t open his eyes or move in his seat when the passenger door of his truck opened.

“You let me wait out here for over an hour”, was all he said.

When a pair of warm lips touched his mouth he opened his eyes and looked at her.

“You Taylored mom”, was all she said before snuggling to his side.

“She had it coming. And I have to tell you… well…”

“You’re still scared to death by her.”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“Arnold Schwarzenegger… if he really had the steel-skeleton and his pumpgun…”

He smiled at that and started his car.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

“Do you think this is a good idea? It’s only been two weeks…”

“I’m fed up with sleeping alone. I want you to go to bed with me, to fall asleep with your hand on the bump that’s going to be our baby…”

“When did it go from Sid and Nancy to bump?”

“My father convinced me that we need to find out first if it’s going go be Sid and Nancy, or Sid or Nancy… And bump sounds sweet…”

“So I’m going to stay with you and bump…”

“I still have to thank you for Tayloring mom.”

He shot her a macho-look.

“Dirty, Miss Gilmore…”

“Hey, that’s my bit!”

Heading towards Stars Hollow Luke stared out the front window of his truck, his hand on Lorelai’s thigh.

“You know, I’ve been doing the maths…”

“What maths?” she asked

“Asuming that bump was conceived when I think he or she or them was…” Luke started.

“Well… you very well know what happened at our little private party after April’s birthday party”, she said with a sad smile on her face. In the few hours they had been together this very special day she had thought they were back on the right track.

And then Anna had happened…

“I just thought… that would make it the end of january…”

“What’s your point, Luke?”

“There will be snow when bump is born…”

She smiled at that. Snow was good. Snow was her friend (except for the disaster when her Jeep was snowed in, her foot half frozen and the inn lost guests… because of the snow as well as in the snow). Luke had made snow and winter her friend again that day…

Snow was perfect. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

“You very easily switched from Sid and Nancy to bump…”


	10. Déjà vu

She was looking at him when he opened his eyes in the morning.

“I want bump to have your eyes”, she said smiling at him and snuggled back against his shoulder.

“They would be blue anyhow, if bump got them from you or from me.”

“I know. But Rory has my eyes. I want our child to have yours…”

He said nothing, just watched her hand stroking through the hair on his chest.

“Lorelai.”

When she lifted her head he looked at her sincerely.

“Marry me.”

“Luke… you don’t have to do this. All that mom said yesterday about knocking me up and so on… well, practically you knocked me up, but…”

“Lorelai”, he cut her off. She looked at him not sure what he was going to say now.

“Marry me”, he repeated.

“Okay…” she answered.

“Good answer”, he smiled before kissing her. She broke the kiss after a few seconds.

“When?”

“As soon as possible? I don’t want to wait any longer.” They had waited too long, anyhow.

“My dress doesn’t fit anymore.” After she had said that she began to giggle.

“What?”

“It’s kind of a déjà vu… have I told you how my mother found out…”, her voice caught at the thought of the fight the day before.

“We can wait until the baby is born”, he suggested, pulling her closer to him. She liked her dress. She’d said it was perfect and he thought the same.

“Plus two months for me to lose all the fat. I don’t want to wait, Luke…”

“Me neither… maybe you can get a new one… and I’m not wearing a tux!”

At that she laughed once again and kissed him.

They didn’t hear the front door open. Neither did they hear the silent tap of feet on the stairs or the louder “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…!” Rory was repeating when she went upstairs to the bedroom of her mother. She bolted through the door with a really heartfelt  “I’m soooo sorry, mom!!”, causing Luke and Lorelai to jump out of each other’s arms and look a her.

Rory just stared at them openmouthed. Then she turned around.

“I… I’ll be waiting downstairs. Good morning…


	11. Does Sean Connery sing?

Lorelai found her daughter in the kitchen sitting at the table, the unevitable newspaper in hands, coffee dripping in the coffee-maker, pop tarts in the toaster, Paul Anka on her feet. Stretching her sweatpants that said ‘Juicy’ on her backside a little to give bump more space she leaned against the doorframe.

“What are you sorry ‘bout?” she asked and shocked Rory out of her concentration.

“Oh… mom. Hi! I wanted to say I was sorry that I had to cancel dinner yesterday. Mitchum practically dragged Logan back to London… so… how was it?”

Lorelai closed her eyes on the thought of the dinner.

“Oh… that good? I’m really sorry, mom.”

Her mother took a seat next to her.

“You being there wouldn’t have changed anything. Especially not Adolf’s telling me over and over what a screw up I am.”

“She really told you that?!” Rory looked at her mother unbelievingly while petting the dog and ignoring the nickname her mother had given her grandmother long time ago.

“Oh yeah… and you missed something…”

“What? Emily kicking a dog and later hitting her maid?”

“No…”  
Lorelai made a pause.

“Luke Taylored mom.”

“No way!”

“Oh yes!” Her mother lowered her voice wanting to make it sound as deep as Luke’s.

“Shut the fuck up you crazy woman! I love Lorelai and you are horrible and so bored you’ve nothing else to do than going on the nerves of other people. You are not going to meet any of my children again! Neither Rory nor April or Sid and Nancy!”

“He said _my_ children and then my name?!” Rory had to admit she was flattered.

“I was too excited about the whole yelling at Emily thing… but yes, I think he did. I always told you I should tape Friday night dinners!”

“He really said fuck when grandma was there?”

“Three times. It was really dramatic. My mother went to bed, Luke went outside to cool off and I had the first dinner alone with my father that I enjoyed. I think Andrew Lloyd Webber’s going to make a musical out of it. Steven Spielberg already called. Sean Connery will play my father.”

“Grandpa would like that! Does Sean Connery sing?” Rory grinned.

“I don’t know. I was just thinking about how to convince Viggo Mortensen to play Luke.”

“Do you still have that crush on Aragorn?”

“No, I have my own hero now. I just think that he would look cute with the backwards baseball cap.”

“Aragorn, mom!” Rory said shocked.

“Hey, Luke Taylored Emily Gilmore!”

“Does this mean I get to be your hero from now on?” a familiar voice came from the doorframe. Luke, not having anything of his stuff over yet appeared barefooted in his trousers and the shirt from the day before.

“She’s planning on a musical and a blockbuster”, Rory informed him.

“Tarentino?” he asked beginning  to take the pop tarts out of the toaster and looking at them disgusted.

“Spielberg”, Lorelai answered and watched him. Then she suddenly turned pale.

“This is what I hate about pregnancy”, she moaned while runnig out of the kitchen and up the stairs towards the bathroom.

“Should I go after her?” Luke asked and put a cup with coffee down on the table in front of Rory.

“Wait a couple of minutes.” Taking a sip she watched him sit down.

“Rory… about before…”

“No, Luke, it’s fine. I finally know how it feels to walk in on your parents when they’re… you know…”

“Never want to do it again?”

“Never ever. No offence…”

“None taken.”

They fell silent for some minutes, Luke just watching Paul Anka that had started to lick his toes.

“It’s really okay, Luke. I like the thought of you and mom being together. Well, not _being_ together, but…”

“I know, Rory. You just made me think of a very well stored away childhood experience I had in this field…”

“What? Oh… yikes!”

“Exactly.”


	12. Dreams 1.0

 

_One week later_

“So I opened the door in Sookie’s living room, and guess where I found myself? In our kitchen!” Lorelai explained to Rory clutching the hand of her soon to be husband. Her daughter just shook her head.

“Sookie’s living at the other end of the town! Why do you have these weird dreams?”

“Wait, the dream goes on. I went outside our house, through kneedeep snow and there was another door…”

“You opened it?”

“Of course.”

“You shouldn’t open doors of which you don’t know where they lead to”, Luke chimend in while hoping the doctor would return soon so the two women would finish this stupid conversation.

“Well, so I opened the door”, Lorelai ignored him.

“And suddenly I’m in Philadelphia and Jess was giving me a burger and saying Hello to bump.”

“Jess was in your dream?”

“Yes. What does that mean?”

Rory sent her a mean grin.

“You know I could interpret this very easily like the dream you had when I was in Washington.”

Then she frowned.

“Ew. I just realized how disgusting that would be!”

“Ha! I knew you were my daughter. Sometimes even your mouth is faster than your brain.”

The door opened and Luke sighed.

“Finally. I’ve never been that happy to see a doctor…”

The man looked at him a little bewildered but then turned to Lorelai.

“Miss Gilmore. How’s the arm?”

“Well, it itches a little and Luke took away all the pencils I could use to scratch…”

Rory grinned at that thinking of the advice Luke had given her when she broke her wrist.

“The itching is normal… We can take the cast off soon. Your test results also were fine. What do you think about a little photo session with the baby?”


	13. Dreams 2.0

Rory tiredly moved her hand to grab the phone next to her bed, only to be greeted by a slightly hysterical voice.

_“I’_ _ve been having this dream again!”_

“Mom?”

_“No, I’_ _m Luke!”_

“Hi Luke. You sound funny…”

_“Girl, I need you to work with me here!”_

Sitting up in the bed Rory focused on her mother.

“Shoot.”

_“So, I’_ _ve been having this dream again!”_

“Hugh Hefner on the trampolin?”

_“No, the other dream!”_

“The doors in Sookies living room? Paul Anka? You being eaten by a turtle… you know you have to be a little more specific ‘cause you really have weird dreams!”

_“No, it’_ _s the dream where I woke up from at least 30 alarm clocks and walk down into the kitchen where Luke is making breakfast…”_

“Was he naked this time?” her daughter cut her off still half asleep.

_“I can have him naked when I’_ _m awake, why should I dream of it?”_

“Way to much information here, mom! And last time you didn’t know how he would look like…”

_“Anyhow, he was cooking for me and making decaf, but this time I didn’_ _t look for the real thing although I knew he hid it under the sink. I just watched him make me coffee…”_

“Naked?” Rory asked falling back to her pillow again. Her mother’s late night calls were a lot easier to handle when she’d been 17.

“ _What is it with you? Everytime I tell you Luke is making me breakfast, dream or real life you ask me if he was naked!”_ her mother teased.

“Sorry… go ahead…”

_“So, I eventually drank the decaf and ate an apple. Then he kissed me and talked to my stomach.”_

“I can’t analize that. You’re going to marry him and already carry his twins.”

_“I just wanted to know why I’_ _m having this dream again?”_ Lorelai said watching her diner-man sleep next to her.

“Well… maybe your subconsciousness is happy with everything and just wanted to remind you that it knew before you.”

_“My subconsciousness knew that years before me?”_

“Asks the woman whose mouth has a nose and sometimes isn’t talking to her brain…”

_“You sound a little grumpy over there, Kiddo…”_

“You woke me in the middle of the night just to remind me that you have a love life and I don’t…” Rory definitly thought that she had the right to be grumpy.

_“Logan still in London?”_

“And we keep missing each other… Last time I called him I spent half an hour talking to his dumb secretary only to hear ‘Hi Ace, sorry but I have to go. Bye.’ What happened to hour-long ‘I miss you’ calls?”

_“I’_ _m sorry, kid…”_

“Well, I’m too. What is it with me and men? To my taste in men, may it improve!!!” the younger Gilmore growled looking at the empty space next to her.

_“I have to be sorry. I shouldn’_ _t call you in the middle of the night…_ _it’_ _s just…_ _I can’_ _t stop looking at the photos the doctor gave us today…_ _I’_ _m so excited about everything…”_

“So am  I. It’s really great, mom. I think, I’m just tired… Can I call you tomorrow, no, today, at a more not so middle in the night-y hour?”

_“Of course… sleep well, Gerti.”_

“Same for you, Heidi!”

When her mother had hung up Rory looked at her cell-phone. In London people were already up for a couple of hours and working. After a bit of thinking she finally dialed a number.

 

“Have you given _The Fountainhead_ another try?”

“You know its O dark thirty and people are trying to sleep, don’t you, Ror…”, a familiar voice answered.


	14. Go, Meredith!

_Some days later_

“I don’t understand Derek!” Lorelai exclaimed, sitting next to her daughter on their couch.

“Neither do I. I’ll always like Meredith better!” Rory stated and threw some of her popcorn at the TV.

“Why does there always have to be a wife, or some sort of ex-girlfriend or hidden children? Do they really think their audience is thrilled when the most favourite couple breaks up because of some phi-beta-bimbo-love-her-since-we-went-to-university-together?” Lorelai joined her daughter in throwing popcorn at Addison Montgomery-Shepperd.

“At least I know now why you were running out of popcorn when I arrived”, an amused male voice came from the kitchen door.

“Since you’re going to be my favourite nephew once I married your uncle I will ignore this statement.”

“I’ll be your only nephew”, Jess answered handing the two women the bowl with popcorn he had been voluntiered to make and sat down next to Rory.

“And you’re only here because you want to see Taylor’s reaction when we drop the bomb.” Lorelai threw another fistfull of popcorn at the screen and fished some M&Ms out of a bowl on the table.

“Please, if you had a videocamera you would record his reaction in the town meeting”, another male voice from behind startled them.

Grabbing a slice of Lorelai’s quesadilla Luke watched for some seconds what was on tv.

“Haven’t you seen this episode for at least five times now?” he asked taking a bite. Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

“I still hope he’s changing his mind. Do you know what you’re eating there?”

He took another bite, this time more thoughtful.

“Hmm. I taste cheese, ham, ketchup and something I can’t identify…”

“Luke…”

Taking another bite he just looked at her.

“Please, I’m hungry… we had a rush the whole day, Lane’s not feeling well, and I didn’t have time to eat. I know, you always say you cannot cook, but your quesadilla’s quite good…What is this sweet I can taste?”

“Cranberry”, Lorelai said, looking at her man unbelievingly.

Rory and Jess both made a face at the thought of this combination.

Luke just looked at the half eaten slice, then shrugged his shoulders and took another bite.

“It really only sounds disgusting.”

Lorelai sat up on the couch and made an earnest face.

“Luke, do you have to tell me something?” she then grinned. He grinned back.

“Yep. We have to go, or we will be late for town meeting.”

Today he was actually looking forward to it …


	15. You are late!

“You are late”, Taylor automatically said when the door opened while he was in the middle of discussing an important issue with the people of Stars Hollow.

“Yeah, I know. This must mean I’m pregnant”, Lorelai exclaimed and caused Taylor as well as Luke to frown.

“Very subtle, Lorelai”, the diner-man hissed.

“You have used this stupid remark before. All of you are late”, was all that Taylor wanted to say while the whole room started to chuckle.

“Oh my God! Does this mean I’m pregnant, too?” now the slightly panicked voice of Rory could be heard, the room now bursting with laughter.

“So must be Jess and Luke! Oh my God, Luke ate what I cooked!” Lorelai exclaimed. The two men rolled their eyes.

“Lorelai, please sit down, and we’ll forget that you were late…” Taylor begged.

“I already told you that I’m pregnant. You don’t have to repeat it all the time!” she grinned back.

“What?” Taylor as usual didn’t get it, while Babette suddenly swatted the arm of Miss Patty.

“Oh my god!!!”

“She’s pregnant!”

“Morrey! She’s pregnant!!!”

“Cool.”

“Gipsy, she’s pregnant!”

“I know she’s pregnant, I’m not deaf!”

Jess slightly elbowed Rory.

“ I think that’s the world record for using the word ‘Pregnant’ in one minute.”

“Can I offer my services as a midwife?” Kirk asked into the crowd being ignored as usual.

Through the noise all the townies made suddenly an even louder voice could be heard.

“I will kill you, Taylor!”

Storming towards the older man Luke pointed at some rather familiar charts.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this again!!!”

“Well, as I told you the last time, both you and Lorelai are very important for this town. The co-mingling of you can only set the stage for disaster. It has already twice. We can’t always decide anew if we want to be a Luke or a Lorelai, when…”

“This is ridiculous! And if you start with Fay Wellington and Art Brush and their candy-flower co-mingling again, then your death will be rather quick, but very violent!” Luke threatened the town selectman.

“Well, the history say’s that it will happen again… so what are we going to do when you break up again? We again have to decide who we like better, Kirk can’t decide and…” Taylor kept talking and pointing at his charts, where Luke’s area of the town was printed in blue and Lorelai’s in pink.

“You know what, take the protocol from last time, add the couple of middlefingers I promised you at the end and we don’t have to go through this ridiculous only-Taylor-can-understand-thing again! Just read it.”

“You promised the last time you would leave town”, Taylor reminded him. Luke growled.

“This time I promise you there won’t be any other break ups ‘cause we’re going to get married! Not that this is any of your business. Again.”

“Now he’s the one being subtle”, Lorelai whispered into her daughter’s ear who watched the whole scene with a big grin on her face.

“Luke… if you let me explain…”

“This is something I missed. Luke and Taylor together always means fun”, Jess added from the other side.

“Oh my God! Did Luke just really…” Rory began shoked.

“Tear the blue-and-pink-chart into pieces? Yep”, Lorelai stated dryly.

“Taylor looks devastated!” Rory exclaimed feeling pity for the selectman.

“Oh my… now he took the other one…”

“Taylor’s chasing him. Didn’t know, he was so fast…”

“Well, my man’s faster! Go, Luke!!!”

“Oh, now he hit Taylor with the chart. When did they get this touchy?” Jess wanted to know.

“Since Taylor played his Muzak too loud. Luke threw a frying pan at him. Through the window between the shops!” Lorelai informed her soon-to-be-nephew.

“He threw a frying pan at Taylor? Without me there?” both Jess and Rory exclaimed.

“He even warned him. You better duck, Taylor, because I’m going to throw this frying pan at your head”, Lorelai said in her deep Luke-voice.

“Oh my god, Taylor just threw his hammer at Luke!!!”

“He catched it anyway… I wonder, if he…”

“Throws it back? Yep…”


	16. Thank you, Daddy.

_The next day_

 

They were leaning on the car, outside the big building, Lorelai clutching her decaf-to-go, Rory waiting for her to get ready to knock. Or ring the bell. Or get away from the car.

“Mom…”

”I’m not ready yet.”

“We’re sitting here for ten minutes now. You just have to knock and tell Grandpa that you want him to walk you down the aisle…”

“What if he says no?”

“He won’t say no, mom.”

“I don’t want to meet her.”

“You don’t have to.”

“How do you know?”

At that Rory sighed and pulled her cell phone out oof her pocket, dialing a number.

“What are you doing now?” Lorelai wanted to know being waved off by her daughter.

“Hi, Grandpa! Would you mind coming outside? Mom wants to ask you something.”

Turning to her mother she told her that Richard was coming.

 

Some seconds later the front door opened with Richard joining his daughter and granddaughter leaning on the Jeep.

“Don’t you want to come inside, girls?”

“Is Emily home?” Lorelai asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll stay outside.”

Richard sighed, but couldn’t help to feel a little sympathy for his daughter. This time, Emily had gone too far.

“So… Rory told me you wanted to ask me something… The baby is fine?”

“Actually, it’s the babies… Luke and I, we’re going to have twins.”

“So your feeling was right.”

“Yes, it was…”

Richard smiled.

“Wonderful. Oh, I can’t wait until they’re born… Do you know the gender already?” he asked enthusiastically causing Lorelai to look at him confused.

“Ah, no, Dad… not yet. Maybe I’ll even pull a Jackson and wait… Dad…”

“Yes, Lorelai?”

She took a deep breath.

“Luke and I are going to get married. It’s going to be next Friday in, well, Stars Hollow, and I wondered if you maybe… well… Dad, would you walk me down the aisle? Please?” she burst out watching him looking at her seriously.

Then he put on a soft smile.

“I would love to, Lorelai.”

He wasn’t prepared for her hugging him but then closed his arms around her too.

“Thank you, Daddy!”

When he heard her call him that he thought his breathing would stop. She hadn’t called him Daddy for a very long time…

“I’d really love to…” he repeated, letting her step out of his embrace, her eyes a little watery.

“Can I call you next week to arrange all? It’s nothing big, just Luke and me, Rory, the town members, oh, and Luke’s refusing to wear a tux, so nothing too fancy.”

“Works for me. My tux is a bit… well, lets say that I grew out of it. Lorelai, about…”

“If she wants to, she can come. If she’s trying to ruin it I will kill her and she never will even know what her grandchildren look like”, his daughter cut him off in a very serious tone. Richard looked at her. She had said she wouldn’t make the first step. Yet this was some kind of peace offering for her mother.

“This is more than she could have expected”, he amitted and gathered his daughter in a hug once again.

“You really don’t want to come in?”

This time Rory thought it was time to intervene before her mother cracked.

“We have a lot of planning to do, Grandpa.”

“Of course you have. Say hello to Luke for me, will you?”

“I’ll call you on Monday, Dad. You can help with tasting the ton of cakes Sookie will prepare…”

“That sounds like fun, Lorelai.”

“And like a massive overdose of sugar…”

“I will be there if you need me”, he smiled again and then turned back to his house.

 


	17. Demands

When he went back into the house he directly ran into his wife.

“Was this a car driving off, Richard?” Emily wanted to know.

“Yes”, he answered and got himself a furious look.

“Will you stop this one-word-answers with me, Richard Gilmore?! Who was in this car and what did he or she want?” she demanded to know.

Richard sighed. She never asked. She always demanded.

“Lorelai and Rory were here.”

“Why didn’t you invite them in?”

“I did. But because of a very obvious reason Lorelai refused.”

“Aw, she’ll get over it. I only want the best for her, and since she is incapable of judging what is right and what is wrong, I had to step in! I had to act!”

“Emily, stop it right now. Lorelai is an adult woman, for Pete’s sake! And because of you she is afraid to come into this house and to tell both of her parents that her wedding will be next Friday. She’s too afraid that you will hurt her again that she had to ask me in the driveway if I’d walk her down the aisle!”

“I see. So you’re the favourite parent once more”, Emily snapped.

“I really don’t understand you. Our only daughter has found the love of her life, is pregnant with twins, and although you DID hurt her she even said you could come to the wedding. She’s reaching out to you even though you don’t deserve it!”

“I don’t approve this marriage, so why would I attend it?” she asked, face still hard. He straightened his form.

“Well, I will be going. And let me warn you: If you do anything to ruin this, I myself will throw you out of my house and file for the quickest divorce I can get!” he threatened her turning towards his study and slamming the door. Emily just watched the door in shock, then turned around.

“Annabelle, if this coffee isn’t ready in the next minute you will be fired!”


	18. You don't have a clue, either!

_One week later –_ _Friday_

 

“You promised you would explain it to me if I gave it one more try”, Jess Mariano said, sittig down next to the maid of honor who was watching her mother and her brandnew husband waltzing the dancefloor.

“Have I told you how shocked I was when I found out that Luke could waltz?” Rory said ignoring his request.

“You will find out very soon that I can’t, when we have to make fools of ourselfs doing this dance stuff.”

“Who said that the maid of honor and the best man have to dance together? Must have been a very evil mind”, she grinned remembering her lack of talent in that field.

“Okay, so now that we have found out we both don’t like dancing, can we come back to this crazy woman with her forty page monologues? Explain it to me!”

“Give it one more try, Jess.”

“You always say that. Sometimes I think you don’t have the slightest clue either. Oh boy!”

“What?”

“You don’t HAVE a clue either!” he exclaimed.

“Well… I thought if you’d understand it you could explain it to me”,  she admitted, standing up from her chair.

“I think it’s our turn…”

“Where’re you going?” a loud voice behind her asked. Logan Huntzberger put his glass down on the table and reached out for his girlfriend. He knew he’d had too much. He also knew she didn’t like it when he was drunk and wallowing in selfpity. What he’d been doing since his father had shipped him of to London, to learn his business…

At least that would explain why she was backing away from him.

“It’s time for our dance.”

Seeing Jess appearing next to her, Logan snorted.

“With him?”

“I’m the maid of honor, he’s the best man. It’s tradition”, she explained as if she was speaking to a grumpy child.

“Screw tradition…”

She just stared at him, her look telling him he had said something wrong. Then she turned around.

“Come on, Jess. Let’s make fools of ourselves.”

He grabbed her wrist making her face him again.

“Don’t go, Rory?” he said pleadingly, getting himself an angry look.

“You’re drunk”, she stated, freeing her arm.

“Ace!”

“Logan, sit!” she snapped. Stunned he followed her order and sat down. Turning around again she grabbed Jess’ hand and started towards the dancefloor.

“You just totally sounded…”

“Like my grandmother, I know. And I’m scared like hell!”


	19. Traditions

“So… what does that mean…?” she asked him.

“That we fullfilled another maid of honor – best man tradition”, he responded dryly, kissing her. She giggled at that and lay her head onto his shoulder.

“I just cheated on my boyfriend. I’ve never cheated on my boyfriend before!”

“You going to panic now?”

She remained silent for a while, letting him come to the conclusion she had fallen asleep.

“I won’t panic. I mean… It’s you.”

He didn’t understand.

“What does me being me have to do with…?”

She kissed him, shutting him up.

“You always liked me for what I was. The bookworm with the crazy mother, the coffee addiction and a stomach a horse would envy…”

“I still don’t understand how you can eat that much and keep that slim waist. And I’m a bookworm myself, so I just had to look for someone smart.”

They remained silent for a while.

“I don’t want to screw up again, Ror”, he said quietly into the night.

“You won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I won’t let you this time.”


	20. The only one who isn't complaining

_Oktober 8th_

 

The house was filled with loud music although the first guests weren’t supposed to arrive anytime soon. Lorelai leaned back on her couch, sighing as the weight of her 6 months pregnant body was off her feet for a little while.

“Boy, just look at us”, Lane exclaimed, looking at the other three women sitting in the Danes’ livingroom caressing their pregnant bellies.

“I still think I should kill Jackson for not getting the vasectomy. And for not telling me that he didn’t get one…”, Sookie mumbled. She had found out one week ago and her husband had been abandoned on the couch since then.

“Kicking them out of the house doesn’t work either… T.J. keeps coming back. Though I have to say I’m glad he’s more responsible than Jess’ father…”, Liz added.

“At least you’re about to pop anytime soon, Liz. I still have 4 more months to go and I already feel like a beached whale”, Lane complained turning to Lorelai.

“Why are you the only one who isn’t complaining about being pregnant? You must feel pretty much the same like me …”

Lorelai just stroked over her stomach feeling her daughter kick her son for invading her space in there. Smoothening the fabric of her ‘Bun in the oven’ shirt she looked at the best friend of Rory.

“‘Cause that is my dream. Me, Luke and the twins. Why should I complain about something I’m so glad about?”

“Do you have to say something that sweet in front of a hormonal woman?” Sookie sobbed, dragging Liz and Lane along with her.

 

Most of the men in the kitchen meanwhile were glad to be occupied far away from their hormonal women.

“She makes me fetch ice-cream in the middle of the night. And I mean really weird flavours…”, Zack complained getting a supportive pat on the soulder from T.J..

“At least you don’t get kicked out of your own house everytime she’s in a mood…”, he whailed.

“At least you’re allowed to sleep in your own bed”, Jackson said at the same time.

Luke who was putting chicken wings into the oven just shook his head.

“You lied to her, Belleville, what did you expect her to do?”

“Aw please. As if Lorelai’s not giving you a hard time.”

“No screaming, no kicking me out of our bed or our house, she warns me when she has mood swings and so far there have been no major food cravings. The apple thing I can handle.” And by the way: He could see when she was tired or when her feet hurt. And he was glad when he could comfort her and his babies.

The other men just stared at him unbelievingly.

“You are one lucky man, Luke Danes.”

He just smiled.

As if he didn’t know that himself.


	21. Happy Birthday.

“Open it! Open it! Open it!!” Lorelai squealed as her daughter opened her present very slowly. Rory grinned, then did her mother the favor and ripped the paper off.

“You are crazy!” she screamed, looking at the Compact Oxford English Dictionary. The one she had owned had gone AWOL during her moving out of her grandparents poolhouse into the main house. She still wasn’t sure if her Grandmother… no, she wouldn’t do something like that.

“It still has the word ‘jiggy’ inside. Though I don’t know when to use it… or why.”

“It’s way too expensive!”

“I know, that’s what we told the guy at the store!” Luke grinned putting his arm around his wife. Rory just hugged both of them, then continued to unpack a little present that came with the Dictionary. It contained a magnifying glass. In the meantime Sookie brought in the cake and set it down on the coffee table with everybody singing ‘Happy Birthday’.

Looking at the candles on top of the cake Rory had to smile.

“At least I don’t get to hack into my own face this time!” she grinned before blowing out the candles and getting herself the very first piece.

“And you didn’t give me the time for my speech!” Lorelai complained leaning onto Luke who was by now stroking her belly.

“Yeah. You would have looked very serious and then, after a very well placed pause you would have started telling a joke.”

“Please, when have I done something like that?” her mother asked.

“Everytime you threw her a party”, Luke chimed in laughing and in the same moment could feel one of the babies kick his hand.

“Hey, son, you should be on my side! There’s way too less testosterone around here…”

Everybody ignored the chiming of the doorbell.

“Well, he’s helping mommy as long as he’s living inside her.”

The doorbell chimed again.

“Maybe the kick was meant to support me?”

“By giving me hematomes from the inside…”

The doorbell chimed the third time.

“May I?” Lorelai wispered causing her husband to smile.

“Sure…”

“Who the hell is ringing the bell?! It’s a party! Get your ass in here!” she exclaimed over the music.

“It is still asses, Lorelai”, her father grinned, dragging his wife along with him.

Rory looked at her mother before turning towards her grandparents. Seeing that she was still smiling she got up to greet them.

While her daughter was hugging her grandparents Lorelai freed herself out of Luke’s embrace and headed for the kitchen.

“My mother’s here”, was all she said, startling Sookie out of her concentration. The chickenwings however did survive the jump the chef of the Dragonfly Inn made.

“Is that good or bad?” she asked studying the face of her best friend.

“I don’t know. She didn’t show up at her only daughters wedding. I didn’t expect her to come to her granddaughters birthday. Now I know once again where her priorities lie.”

“Isn’t that a little bit unfair of you, Lorelai?”

“I’m the hormonal pregnant woman here. I have the right to be unfair”, Lorelai snapped being sorry in the same moment.

“I didn’t mean that.”

“I know. Probably it’s not quite the right time to tell you…”

“Tell me what?”

“Yeah, tell her what?” Rory asked, joining them in the kitchen and hugging her mother once more for the present she and Luke got her.

“We’re out of ice”, Sookie admitted.

“How could we be out of ice? We had a ton of ice! Lars the polar bear would have felt at home!” Rory exclaimed. Sookie just shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know how it happened, I just know it happened. Somehow we’ll have to deal with it…”

“It’s okay, Sookie. I’ll go and get some.”

“You’re the birthday girl, Rory. You shouldn’t go…”

“I’m pretty much the only one who isn’t pregnant around here, and Paris doesn’t count ‘cause she is discussing the pros and cons of dog leashes with Kirk.”

Taking her car keys she was just about to leave the house as the front door opened, revealing Jess who was carrying two blue plastic bags filled with ice.

“Oh my god! You’re a vision!”

“Hey, if I know one thing ‘bout birthdays then that you can’t have enough ice”, he grinned.

She just jumpend into his arms and kissed him as Emily made her way from the living room into the kitchen. Staring at the kissing couple for a while she just couldn’t help to remember how a very similar scene had turned out.

“Luke! Sookie needs your help!” Lorelai yelled almost running her mother over on her way back into the living room. Emily watched Rory and Jess walk into the kitchen followed by Luke and then turned to her daughter.

“What are you going to do about this?”

Lorelai sighed.

“About what, mother?”

“Isn’t that this guy who just ran away? How can you allow your daughter to interact with him again?”

“My daughter is 22. I’m not asked anymore. And he has changed.”

“Please. She has potential! She’s been with one of the Huntzbergers! He’ll only…”

“I have to go to the bathroom”, Lorelai announced and turned away from her mother.

“You can’t just run away from me!” Emily exclaimed, following her.

“I can. I’m the one whose bladder is used as a punching bag. I get to go to the bathroom when I want to, not when you decide that the conversation is over. And now stop following me”, Lorelai snapped.

“Oh no, we will talk about this.”

“Fine…” Ignoring her mother Lorelai headed for the stairs.

 

Luke grabbed the ellbow of his nephew with his free hand, having been dragged into cooking by Sookie. Indicating Emily following Lorelai with a determined expression on her face he growled: “Follow them. If she upsets Lorelai, kill her!”


	22. What you are...

Her mother was good at cornering people. So Lorelai wasn’t surprised she didn’t get the chance to enter her bathroom but instead was shoved into her bedroom.

“She left Logan Huntzberger for this guy? What the hell is wrong with you?!” Emily started as soon as she was through the door.

“What is wrong with ME? Rory chose him.”

“And she obviously has the same bad taste in men that you have! You should have made sure she wasn’t seeing him again.”

Lorelai sat down heavily on her bed and sighed.

“Well, since she has the same taste in men, why would I forbid her to see him?” she asked sacastically. Emily placed herself in front of her daughter and stared at her.

“This is one big joke for you, isn’t it? You would do everything to estrange yourself from the family, even if this means your daughter is making the biggest mistake in her life. When will you finally start to take responsibility?”

“I think I did that for the first time when I decided to move out of your house. And with every minute you’re talking to me I think this was the best decision I ever made.”

“Lorelai! You don’t know…”

“Mother, stop it. I am tired of fighting with you. I don’t have the strengh right now. Rory has chosen him. Period. You don’t have the right to say anything about it. She loves him, he loves her. He changed so much, and you don’t even know him. You don’t like him? Your problem!”

“Lorelai Victoria Gilmore. You will not talk to me in this tone!”

“You forget one thing, mother. This is MY house. I can talk to you in every way I want to. I am not a scared 16 year old girl anymore who got yelled at by her mother in the hospital because she didn’t phone her, who by the way was at some fancy party, but an ambulance when she went into labor. I am not anymore the person who let herself blackmail into being with people she didn’t want to depend on because she wanted her kid to go to a private school and have the best possibilities for her future. You and me, we just don’t work. Maybe I have to thank you for that. Because you showed me how I didn’t want to end. You are a frustrated, old woman with nothing that really fulfills her. And now I would be really grateful if you left. Just go.” Lorelai turned away from her mother. She had often dreamed of saying something like that to Emily. It didn’t feel as good as she had imagined. A small tear ran down her face.

Behind her she could hear her mother take a sharp breath and knew it wouldn’t be over that easy. Why couldn’t she for once just let it go…?

“How dare you…!” Emily started.

“I think she made pretty clear she wants you to leave. I suggest you do that, ‘cause I have the strict order of her husband to kill you if you upset her”, a calm voice came from the door, Jess easily holding the glare Emily sent him. He would never be as strong, tall, or as broadchested as his uncle was, but his way leaning casually on the doorframe, hands in the pockets of his jeans, an unconcerned look on his face made Emily consider how dangerous he could be.

She finally turned away from her daughter and left the room without another word.

He watched for another second how his aunt wiped away the tears on her cheeks.

“I’ll get Luke?” he asked and got a nod as answer.


	23. Saying the f-word

She was kneeling next to Lane, feeling how one of her twins kicked as she noticed her Grandmother coming down the stairs followed by Jess. She frowned confused when he disappeared into the kitchen. Emily made her way to Richard, demanding loudly that she wanted to leave. When she saw Luke running up the stairs she got up from her place.

“What did you do this time?!” Her furious voice caused her Grandmother to spin around.

“What the hell did you do this time!?” Rory repeated before Emily had even the chance to respond.

“If you have to know: I talked to your mother about your… whatever it is you have with this guy…” she answered looking at Jess who had once more his cold glare concentrated on her.

“Why would my relationship with Jess be any of your fucking business?” Wow… it felt good saying the f-word to Emily Gilmore.

“Well, since your mother doesn’t really know what is right for you, this is where I have to step in…”

“My mother knew what was best for me since the day she decided to move out of your house!”

“How dare you…”

“I invited you because I wanted to celebrate my birthday with my family. How dare you coming to MY house, and ruin everything in the first 10 minutes you’re here? How dare you upsetting a pregnant woman who needs her strengh for other things than fighting her crazy mother?!”

“Rory…” Richard tried to stop his Granddaughter while he took hold of Emily who obviously prepared herself for a shouting match with the younger Gilmore.

“Young lady, watch your tongue!” Emily snapped.

“No! 22 years my mother fought for me, now it’s time that I fight for her. She’s the one who told me Logan wouldn’t be good for me and she was right. She knew my being together with Dean after his divorce would end bad. She knew Jess would break my heart back then, but I just didn’t want to listen. This time I did listen. ‘Cause she know’s best. He changed. She likes him. I love him. None of your business. Take it or leave it. End of discussion.”

“This is your mother speaking. She’s making you fight her battle because of her oh so bad childhood. Let me tell you one thing: There was no day when she wasn’t treated like the queen of Sabaa!” Emily yelled.

“She didn’t tell me anything about her childhood, but I get a pretty good picture when I see you interacting with her.”

“If she’d only got rid of you when there still was time! Everything would be good, she would be Christoper’s wife with a respectable life…” She was so infuriated she didn’t know anymore what she was saying. Rory just looked at her stunned and hurt, the others in the room just were shocked.

“Leave my house”, a deep calm voice from the stairs said.

Emily just looked at Luke who had a firm grip on the banister.

“Leave my house or I swear to God I will throw you out!” he repeated.

For the first time in her life Emily Gilmore did the right thing: Not going deeper in the fight. She just turned around and left.

“She did not mean that, Rory. We love you!” Richard assured his still shocked Granddaughter before following his wife. He had to find out why she was still acting like this and not accepting what she just couldn’t change…


	24. Why?

He almost had to run to reach her before she could get to the car. Grabbing the keys he made sure that she couldn’t open the door.

“I want to leave, Richard. Open this door.”

“I won’t, until you tell me what your little show in there meant”, he calmly stated, staring her down. She sighed.

“I will tell you when I know that myself… I just couldn’t…”

“We’re going to loose all of them if you keep doing that. Not only Lorelai. We’ll lose Rory. And Sid and Nancy.”

“Whom?”

“Sid and Nancy. Lorelai once dreamed of having Luke’s twins, long before they got together, and that’s what she named them in her dream…”, he explained getting a weird look of his wife.

When she started to sob he was the one looking confused.

“Why am I always trying to destroy what she has…?”


	25. Family privileges

When he was sure that this terrible woman was out of his house he went back into the bedroom, not caring about the guests that still were shocked by the scene they just witnessed. She was still sitting on the same spot of the bed, staring at her hands. He sat down next to her, taking her into his arms.

“She’s gone…”

“I don’t want to see her again. Ever.”

“After all she’s still your mother…The only Grandmother our children will have…” She was family, even if she didn’t behave like that. You couldn’t just turn your back to family…

“She’s just lost that privilege…” With a sigh she freed herself from his hug and stole a quick kiss.

“I have to go to the bathroom…”

When she had closed the door he got up and went to the window.

Jess was showing their guests out.

Richard Gilmore took his crying wife briefly into his arms and then settled her into the car.

Luke Danes stood by the window of his bedroom, watching his in-laws drive away, and was thinking about family. He couldn’t believe that he was once more speaking for Emily Gilmore.

Could you lose the right to be part of a family?


	26. Faster than brain

“You okay?”

She was sitting in her bedroom, her eyes still wide with shock.

“Don’t know…”

He walked inside, sitting down next to her on the bed.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean what she said.”

“Emily Gilmore always means what she says. And I now know what mom meant by this ‘huddled in a corner eating your hair’-comment…”

He didn’t know what to say. Sure, Liz had neglected him and most of his rebellion could be blamed on her. Yet he at least knew she loved him. He wondered if Lorelai ever had the same feeling with her mother.

“She’s a Gilmore… Maybe even her mouth is sometimes faster than her brain”, he said.

She slid her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest.

“I’m glad you’re here…”

“Me too…”

He’d never admit aloud that it wasn’t only because if her.

He wanted to be there when his new baby brother or sister was born.

He’d never admit that on the inside he was the same big softie his uncle was…


	27. Changes

Stars Hollow was grieving. A few seconds could change anything, and these few seconds had made sure that the small town was crying over the loss of Andrew.

Dabbing her moist eyes, Lorelai leant onto Luke during the service. Her husband did not look well, he had been taking it hard.

He had been bickering with the man just like with everybody else in town, but deep down he loved all of the whack-a-doodles living in his hometown.

The funeral was already finished when Rory arrived, devoting most of her time to her studies when not travelling between New Haven and Stars Hollow or New Haven and Philadelphia.

She hated that Jess had to spend so much time there, running the book store that he had opened together with a few friends before both of them had even dared to think about one another.

She missed him. And even hour long “I miss you” calls couldn’t change that.

The fact that he was travelling just as much to see his girlfriend and his baby sister made things a bit easier, but it was hard not being able to hug him in moments like this.

Rushing to her mother’s side she enveloped the older woman in a tight embrace, weeping against her shoulder.

“I spent a big part of my life in his book store, and now I missed his funeral”, she cried.

Lorelai caressed her daughter’s hair and looked worriedly at her husband who had stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

 

***

 

It was already dark outside, when Luke joined Lorelai in the living room, sitting down next to her on the couch and gathering her in his arms, caressing her belly.

“Rory is asleep. This really got to her…” he said, placing his palm on her stomach, and only had to wait a few seconds until his son greeted him with a kick.

Lorelai flinched as her daughter kicked the other side.

“It rattled all of us…”, she answered. It had. Rory had spent every free minute in the book store, Andrew actually had given her her first book as a gift when she had entered it, having freshly moved with her Mom into their new house. He had marveled about the child, standing there in speechless awe about the amount of books.

“You know that she met Andrew the day I met you?” she asked and heard Luke snort.

“Did she also pester him for coffee and then gave him his horoscope?”

She was taken aback by this statement, because somehow it was rude.

It was also funny, somehow, and she couldn’t stop herself from laughing, and somehow it felt good.

Luke remained serious.

“We need to figure out what to do if…”

She cut him off.

“No, Luke, I don’t want to talk about this now…”

“You are not talking to you mother and hardly ever seeing your father. You don’t have siblings. I’d rather haunt my kids than have Liz watch over them… And Sookie already has enough kids…”

“That just leaves Rory and Jess, you know…? Maybe we should just not leave the house anymore”, Lorelai joked, resting her head against his shoulder.

“We should talk to them”, Luke said, lifting himself up from the couch as he heard a knock on the front door. Opening it the diner man laughed.

“Speaking of the devil”, he said, stepping aside to let an exhausted Jess enter.

 

***

She hated the fact that she was craving any sort of fruits. Other pregnant women got to eat ice cream in weird flavors, just like Lane. Zack kept complaining, but somehow had built up a stash that most of the time allowed him to stay at home instead of raiding all sorts of shops in the middle of the night.

No.

She wanted apples.

Or bananas.

Or grapes.

In the middle of the night.

And obviously apples were too loud.

When she had passed the open door to Rory’s room, she and Jess had been asleep, her head buried against his chest.

Lorelai had briefly stopped and watched them.

It was weird. If she had ever found the two of them innocently cuddling like that when Rory was still in High school, Jess would have been dead and Rory would have been locked up in her room until she was 45.

Now she was smiling, being happy about the sight in front of her and then proceeded towards the kitchen to finally relieve her cravings.

Halfway through her apple she heard somebody approaching her at the kitchen table and turning around she saw Jess, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry…” She said, scrutinizing his face.

His dark stubble was slowly cultivated into a beard… or maybe he just did not have time to shave?

“Don’t look at me like that”, he mumbled, sitting down next to her, also grabbing an apple.

Lorelai smirked, placing her elbow on the table and leaning her head.

“You look tired”, she said, watching him take the first bite of his fruit.

Dark eyes watched her, finally averting to the table.

“I am”, he admitted.

He didn’t complain about all the traveling – it was just a few hours by car, even less by plane.

He liked being here, being with Rory, visiting his baby sister, awaiting the arrival of the twins.

But he also liked his work, what he just had started to build.

He was always on the run, always planning when to be where.

Not able to rest.

He sighed.

“May I ask you something?” he said, lifting his eyes to her gaze again.


	28. Midnight confessions

When she finally slipped back under the covers of her bed she realized that she had been talking to Jess for more than two hours.

Luke stirred next to her, halfway awake.

She just dragged his arms around her, saying: “Go back to sleep.”

Luke buried his nose in her hair, asking: “Where have you been so long?”

Lorelai smiled as he started to rub circles on her belly.

“I was talking to your nephew.”

“For two hours…”

Luke did not seem convinced. The boy was so monosyllabic, all their conversations when he still had been living in Stars Hollow barely filled one hour.

“Yah, you know, he basically asked me for Rory’s hand down there”, she answered, making an effort to keep a serious tone while still grinning.

Luke shot up in bed.

“WHAT?”

“I told him that he should ask Christopher, but somehow he really convinced me, after all, I raised her more or less on my own, so…”

“They want to get married? They only got back together a few months ago!” His voice sounded panicked.

“Well, I think it’s quite the honorable thing to do after he knocked her up…” She bit her tongue to keep from laughing out loud when he shrieked another high pitched “WHAT???!!!”

Seconds later Luke started to peel the sheets off, jumping out of bed.

“I’m gonna kill him!”

His wife was crying with laughter when she grabbed his hand, dragging him back to bed.

“You are bullshitting me!” he growled, actually pouting a bit when he re-adjusted his body back around her, still having her shivering with laughter.

“Because you are so easy. He asked me whether I knew about apartments for rent here in Stars Hollow. He’s thinking of selling his interest of the book store in Philadelphia and moving here.”

“Oh.”

Lorelai snickered again.

“Yah. Oh.”

Pretty much had been her reaction when he told her.

She did not tell Luke how Jess had elaborated about just being tired of travelling.

He hated having to leave Rory again only hours after they had met. He really hated that he could not be there, comforting her after she found out Andrew was dead.

Hell, he’d even told her how much his death had affected him – she knew he was into books, after all he _owned_ a book store. What she did not know was that he had spent a great deal of his time in Stars Hollow’s book store, discussing with Andrew. Obviously, nobody knew that.

He also told her that he did actually not want to leave his baby sister alone after having found out that his mother and TJ did not even own a baby bed or had really prepared a room for the kid in their house.

When she had said that she found it quite cute that they had Doula sleeping in their bed and they would buy a bed and set up a room eventually when the kid was disturbing their sleep enough, Jess had filled her in how Liz had raised him.

Seedy apartments in the skid row of New York, never enough money to pay the rent or even for food, more than once having to run from her ever changing “boyfriend” of the day.

There had been nights spent on park benches or in hostels for homeless.

There had been nights he cried because he was hungry, or cold, or afraid of the suitor of the day.

There had been days he was not sure if she would come back from where ever she went.

He had learnt to pick locks when he was old enough to figure out that one day she might not come back and he might just starve to death when there was not a nice enough neighbor to take care of him.

By then Lorelai sat there, in her kitchen, half eaten apple in her hand, tears running down her face.

Jess only now seemed to realize what he just had confided her in.

“I’m sorry… that’s not a story you should tell a pregnant woman in the middle of the night… Please don’t tell Rory.”

“Does Luke know about that?”

Jess shrugged.

“She just disappeared. I don’t even think he knew she was pregnant, until she showed up in Stars Hollow briefly for the funeral of her father with a five year old brat on her hand.”

“And you never told anyone…”, Lorelai whispered. Boy, and she had thought she had a hard childhood.

Jess shrugged again.

“It wouldn’t change anything except for people pitying me. I just don’t want the same crap happen to Doula. Living with her name will be hard enough, anyway.”

Lorelai couldn’t help but laugh, her hand reaching out to briefly caress his cheek.

Jess gave her an _are you crazy now?_ look.

“You know, you turned out quite well, despite that crap. And she may have had her reasons…”

He cut her off.

“Don’t compare yourself to her. Both of you may have been so careless to get yourself knocked up as teenagers and ran away, but that’s where the similarities end. You’ve always been a good mother. She never should have been one in the first place. I was just in her way, most of the time.”

He sighed.

“Maybe I’ll just buy a bed, and furniture, and some wall paint, and force them to prepare a room.”

“Bring some people and make it look like a surprise party”, was her comment to that and he smirked his Stallone-ish half smile, as she eased herself up and discarded the remainders of her apple.

 

“Luke…”

He did not respond, obviously having fallen asleep again while she had been musing about her conversation with her nephew-in-law.

“Luke!”

He jerked behind her, mumbling a sleepy “Mrrrm??”

“We need to set up a room for Sid and Nancy.”

 


	29. Because we're Gilmores

When Luke went into the kitchen the next morning to prepare breakfast for all of them, he found his nephew sitting at the table.

Or better: He was sitting on the chair, fingers hovering over the keyboard of a small netbook, intently staring at the screen.

Jess jumped when Luke wished him a “Good morning!”

“Jeez, Luke, I’m working here!”

The Diner man smirked.

“Looked more like you were sleeping with your eyes open. You been here the entire night?”

“Couldn’t sleep”, the younger man answered and watched his uncle’s back as Luke opened the fridge that was having more than just pop tarts and milk inside since he moved in.

“Lorelai said you’re looking for flats here.”

“Well… you and Lorelai are gonna have two babies soon, and maybe you realized that this house only has two bedrooms”, Jess stated, his hands finally stopping to hover over the keyboard.

“I want my own bed…” he sighed.

Luke turned towards the kitchen counter, dropping all sorts of ingredients, and then started to dig around in the cupboards.

“If you want you can have the apartment over the diner. No rent, just make sure to cover the running costs. Pancakes?”

“Sounds great…”, Jess’ eyes still followed Luke as he busied himself with getting the ingredients for breakfast, making his sentences sound so casual.

“You might need to cover for Lane in the Diner until I found someone to replace her… she’s more rolling than walking lately.”

A smile appeared on his nephew’s face. Just leave it to Luke, and you had a bed and a job in less than one hour.

“Why would you need to cover for Lane?” Rory appeared in the kitchen, pecking Jess on the cheek.

“You’re scratchy”, she then smiled, running her fingers through his beard.

“And you like it. I’m selling the book shop in Philly.”

 

***

 

Her expression had changed from _good morning, love_ to _Emily Gilmore_ in under a second.

“NO!”

Poor Luke who was trapped between the fridge and the kitchen table then witnessed a full blown argument evolve, where Rory ended up calling Jess stupid, and Jess just grabbed his leather jacket, leaving the house through the back door.

Lorelai reached the kitchen when both the door to Rory’s bedroom and the backdoor were smashed shut.

“What was _that_???” she asked, getting a clueless shrug as answer.

“Shall I go after him and you talk to her?” he asked while dismissing his idea of cooking for breakfast, just not feeling like it anymore. Opening a cupboard he took out some pop tarts and put them in the toaster, before sitting down at the table.

Lorelai threw him a look.

“What was _THAT_?”

Luke rolled his eyes.

“You have to eat, I don’t feel like cooking. Why did I think things could just be harmonic for a while?”

“We’re Gilmores, Sweetie. It’s never _just_ harmonic.”


	30. Bunny PJs

Rory appeared back in the kitchen five minutes after she had closed the door behind her and had to shove Paul Anka away to be able to sit down.

The dog looked like he wanted to pout, however, since he did not know exactly how to do that, he just disappeared under the kitchen table and lay down, resting his head on Luke’s feet.

Lorelai took another bite of her pop tart, watching her red-eyed daughter.

Luke started to feel uncomfortable and got up, pecking Lorelai’s lips.

“I’m going to the Diner. Just give me a call if you need anything.”

“I might come by for pancakes before I head to the Inn.”

When Rory still had not said anything after the door had closed behind Luke, Lorelai sighed.

“Okay, why did you explode like that? You said pretty mean things, you know?”

Rory blushed and fought down another wave of tears.

“I sounded like Grandma… He never tells me anything. Can you imagine that last night I’ve been talking for two hours about which newspapers I want to send applications to, also pondering some in Philadelphia, and he was just listening. He could have told me _Hey Ror, I’m thinking about selling my bookstore, what do you think?_ ” she ranted, her voice lowering just like Lorelai’s always did when she was imitating Luke, and then took the remaining pop tart and took a bite.

Lorelai took a breath to tell her that this was how Jess was working, and he had learned it the hard way – don’t depend on anyone, because most probably they let you down.

However, Rory was not done with her rant, yet, talking around her mouthful of pop tart.

“And I called him stupid! He’s not stupid at all! Did you know he went through more library cards than I did? And he still can tell me about every book he read. He already wrote a book and published it! He doesn’t have any of the fancy education I got, and still he managed to, while all I have is a failed internship at my ex’s dad’s crappy newspaper and a criminal record.”

Taking another bite, Rory prevented another attempt of her mother to contribute something to the conversation, this time wanting to chime in that she actually was responsible for publishing the Yale Daily News, by just ranting on.

“And I go all Emily Gilmore at him, instead of just asking… God, I know how introvert he is.”

Hopping up from the chair she tossed the half eaten pop tart onto the table.

“I need to apologize…”

With that she ran for the front door, well, as much as Gilmores ran.

Lorelai reached for the remainders of her daughter’s breakfast, shaking her head and chuckling at the sound of Rory shuffling into her shoes and putting on her jacket while she was already almost out of the house.

“You do know that you are still wearing your bunny pajamas, right? Lorelai laughed into the direction of the entrance, but got no answer.

Thank God in their whacko-small-town nobody would care too much.

 

***

 

He tried not to look up when he heard her steps approach him.

He nevertheless did, almost losing his stern expression when he took in her appearance.

Unzipped boots. Check.

Open jacket. Check.

Wooly hat and scarf. Check.

Bunny pajamas. Mua ha ha ha.

“I knew I’d find you here.”

“I prefer you yelling at me somewhere where Luke won’t have a stroke.”

Rory sat down on the bridge next to him, looking at her hands.

“I really shocked him, huh?”

“Well, Emily Gilmore going berserk on her boyfriend for nothing…”

“Please, don’t call me that. And it was not for nothing. You love your book store.”

“I love you more.”

Rory took a breath, however, Jess was not yet done.

“And yes, maybe I should have rather said _I’m thinking about selling it_. And talked to you about it. It’s been nagging me for a while now. Every time I get into my car to go back to Philly I have to actually force myself to drive away. Yes, I like my store. But it’s just a store, and it might take a while, anyway, to sell my part because Matt and Chris are just as broke as I am, and I’m not just selling to anyone.”

He took a deep breath, first of all because he was not used to rant and running out of air. And he had just realized what he had said before.

“I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep for way to long, and I have way too much time to think during the drives to Philly, so instead of going to bed I’m writing on a new book and I’m thinking all the time about Liz and if she’s remembering to feed Doula and…”

Rory silenced him with a kiss.

“I’m sorry”, she whispered then, her hand cupping his cheek, fingers raking through the rough hair of his beard again. Yeah, she definitely liked it.

“I figured it was something like that and I did not want to snap like that. I’m just afraid you are throwing away your dream. And please don’t say something as cheesy as _You are my dream_.”

Both smiled, their foreheads touching.

They just sat for a while, at some point just holding hands and looking over the lake.

“Ya know, we argue pretty civilized when on this bridge.”

Rory giggled, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“Well, I guess part of that is because internally you are laughing yourself to death because of my pajamas.”

Indeed, Jess smirked again.

“Oh, and in case you wondered. I love you, too.”


	31. Oh, boy...!

Lorelai sighed when she finally put on her winter jacket, only to realize that she could not reach for the zipper to close it anymore. Every time she bowed to grab it, both sides of the jacket were pushed apart by her belly.

She smiled when she remembered the first time Luke had to tie her shoes for her, because her stomach was in her way. Or had to close her jacket, making a joke while wearing a sexy smirk about rather having the jacket coming off.

It took longer and longer lately to get ready, and normally, somebody was always around to help her. This morning’s fight of their two love birds had disturbed their routine and it somehow made her feel old…

Back then, when she had Rory, sleepless nights and working hard had been easy.

This morning, when the shouting match had started, all she wanted to do was run into her kitchen, defend her son-in-law, before wondering about the fact that she was thinking about him in that term, slap some sense into her daughter, make them reconcile and then have a decent Luke-cooked breakfast.

She had only reached the end of the stairs and was already out of breath (and secretly glad that she did not have to walk them up…), and realized once Sid and Nancy were born she would have to come down these stairs every time one of them needed something, and she actually thought “oh, boy…”.

By the time she had reached the kitchen, Jess had taken off.

Luke had gone AWOL shortly after, and after Rory had left, she sat in her kitchen and couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the view of her home had changed from beloved crap shack that she would not trade for anything on earth to _oh boy, I don’t want to walk down these stairs every night to check on my children._

Closing the door behind her she sighed once more.

It was cold outside, end of October. Leafs were falling instead of showing this dark red autumn colors.

“That’s probably not the best time for house-hunting”, she muttered to herself.

 

***

 

There were people in front of Luke’s Diner, many of them, staring into the windows, and the fact that Kirk was amongst them made Lorelai speed up.

Most probably Luke had thrown them out, which meant that either he was in a mood, or…

Reaching the front door she saw her husband and his killing stance, wide gestures adding to whatever he was yelling at Taylor Doose.

Right in the moment she could read his lips as he yelled a “Go to hell!” right after the town selectman who was already heading towards the door, pushing Lorelai aside as he exited the Diner. Taylor’s head was bright red, he looked as if he was about to explode. Obviously, this time something did not go his way.

Entering and closing the door behind her, she threw Luke a questioning look. His jaw muscles were still working, also his face flushed, the tendons in his neck sharply present under his skin.

“What did Taylor do this time?”

“He threatened to move the soda shop somewhere else if I refused to re-negotiate the lease. I told him that I couldn’t care less where he moved his stupid shop to, I finally could get rid of this ridiculous window. Then he threatened me that for most of the stuff I might want to do with my own building I would need some sort of the town’s, meaning his, approval.”

He finally sat down, running a hand over his face.

“At least now I know I don’t have an aneurism. I definitely would have blown that.”

Lorelai sat next to him, patting his hand.

“That’s one hell of a day for fights about weird stuff nobody actually needs to fight about. A little less threatening from Taylor’s side and re-negotiating wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“Did Rory go after Jess?” Luke asked, taking a deep breath.

“Yah, she realized what she said and ran after him.”

When Luke threw her a look, she added: “As much as Gilmores run”, eventually making him smile. A smile that slowly faded.

“He also accused me of bringing _that little punk_ back into town, reminding me of every prank, the car crash…”

“He really dug that back out again? Come on, even I forgave him. And chalking that body in front of Doose’s was actually really funny.”

“You know, this is what I hate about this town. None of them even tries to see what he made out of himself. I guess I’ll never learn what Liz put him through before she shipped him off to me, and it took him to lose the girl he loved to finally figure out that he needed to change something, so in the end I was not a big help. But he got it right, all on his own, and all they see is the 17 year old screw up. What will they fuss about next? That you are gonna be a working Mom? Jess and Rory eventually ending up married, happily ever after in this wacko town? They never fussed about my drug-addict sister and her husband that is most probably lacking two chromosomes when they moved here!!!”

He was breathing heavily by now, making Lorelai actually worry a bit.

“Sweetheart, you may not blow an aneurism, but heart attacks are also no fun. Nobody can make you rent out your building to Taylor. Enlarge the Diner. Or… or maybe we could give Tom a call…”

His glance now was questioning. What should Tom do about the building next door?

Lorelai just smiled.

“While I fill you in on my plan to give Jess his best birthday present ever, can you make me pancakes now? I somehow got used to not eating pop tarts in the morning…”

By now she had completely lost him. It was beyond him what his nephew’s birthday in two days had to do with his ever present problems with Taylor Doose and the house next door.

Still, he smiled, pecking her on her lips, answering “Yes, dear”, only to make her laugh.


	32. T'was a cold and foggy morning...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Stig Larsson’s books are not mine. The millennium trilogy is worth reading, though.

_October, 30th_

 

He had been reading until late, eating Stig Larsson’s _Men who hate women_ in a little more than 6 hours. His eyes had been burning, he knew he should go to sleep, he had promised Luke to help out in the Diner, but God help him, he wanted to know how Lisbeth was escaping her father and half-brother.

Rory had been mocking him about the books. Yah, it was nowhere near being anything as intellectual as what they normally read, but he’d turned to _The girl with the Dragon tattoo_ out of boredom, and then got hitched.

Rory was in Yale, the actual reason why he was bored, and he had turned down Lorelai’s offer to just crash in her daughter’s room. Luke had offered the apartment over the Diner, and even though he loved all of them, sometimes the Crap Shack was just too crowded for his liking. So he sought the solitude of the apartment, and made himself comfy on Luke’s bed with a good book and a soda.

So, to make a long story short, he had been reading until late and felt like he had just closed his eyes, when he felt his bed move, and a loud, cheery voice startled him awake.

“ ‘T'was a cold and foggy morning, the day right before Halloween…

Old habits died hard. And having read a novel about a girl who ended up in a hospital with a bullet in her head after her father and half-brother tried to kill her had did also not really help.

He had jumped out of bed and almost ran into the wall since this was not his bedroom in New York and his legs had grown longer since he’d been a scared 8 year old. Turning his back to the wall he started to feel his way for the closet. If he made it to the closet, then…

There was no closet and from his bed came a gasp.

“Jesus, Jess, are you jumpy!”

“Lorelai?!”

He let his head sink back against the wall, his breath still heaving, his heart was racing, adrenalin surging through his body, and sank down to the floor.

“Don’t. Do. This. Ever. Again.”

Lorelai looked in shock at her nephew-in-law. She was doing this every year to Rory, telling her the story of how she was born, in every sordid detail, just leaving out her parents’ reactions, because they were so her parents. While she knew her daughter thought she was crazy, she also knew it made her feel special.

Easing herself up from the bed she made her way to the wall. She had grown fond of him, ever since he appeared back in their life, and after what he had told her only a few nights ago, she had the urge to cheer him up, let him know he was part of the family.

Using the wall for support she eased herself down, sitting next to him, scrutinizing him. His head was still against the wall, his eyes were closed.

He sighed.

“Lorelai, don’t sit on the floor, you’ll never get up again.”

Her hand reached out, touching his forearm, glad that he did not flinch.

“I’m sorry – this was not my best idea, considering your past. You must have thought I was one of your Mom’s druggie friends, holding a shard of a beer bottle, trying to slit your throat.”

Despite the fact that he was still trying to catch his breath, he had to chuckle. Boy, that woman had some imagination.

“Most of the time it was baseball bats, or bare fists. Another one actually brought a golf club, and if I hadn’t been that scared I would have laughed. Oh, and one of them actually beat me up with a salami.”

“What?!” Lorelai desperately hoped he was making fun of her.

“Yap, broke two rips and had a concussion.”

Opening his eyes he suddenly faced her.

“How do you do this?!”

“Do what?” she was confused.

“I never told anyone about these things, and with you, once we’re actually civil and talking, not just grouching, I always end up spilling my guts.”

Lorelai for once did not know what to say, however, that had never stopped her from talking. So she patted his arm and said: “A salami? That’s why you always order pizza with veggies! And I thought you were a health nut like Luke.”

Jess sighed again. He was sitting here in a T-shirt and his boxers, in the middle of the night, and Lorelai Gilmore didn’t make any sense.

“What are you doing here, Lorelai?”

“Well, it’s your birthday, and I wanted to surprise you. I actually made up a cute story how you were born, because Luke didn’t know anything about it, and wanted to tell it to you while sitting with you on the bed.”

The boy looked at her like she had grown a second head, making Lorelai sigh.

“See, it’s a family tradition, I do this every year with Rory, I did it with Luke last year, and now you are family, too. I’m sorry that I didn’t think it through…”

“You told Luke a story of how he was born???”

“He found it hilarious. I told him he was born in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, and his Dad had to kill a moose and skin it to have a warm blanket for his new born son, and later on made a moose barbecue.”

He leaned his head back against the wall, chuckling again.

“Though he didn’t jump out of his skin when I woke him. I’m really sorry, Jess.”

She nudged his shoulder with hers, smiling when he nudged back.

“You know what’s really funny? He was really born in a log cabin the middle of nowhere, because his Mom went into labor two weeks early.”

Both of them laughed.

Then Jess got up from the floor, and turned to head back for his bed.

“Hey! Help! The beached whale also wants to get up!”

He shook his head in mild amusement, extending a hand, ending up grabbing both of her arms and more or less lifting her.

“Uff…Why did you let me sit down on the floor?”

“Me? I warned you not to sit down.”

“But how should I have had a heart to heart with you then???”

Jess took a deep breath. “Lorelai…”

She just passed by him, sitting down on the bed again, patting the mattress.

“Come here.”

He cocked his head.

“But Lorelai, you could be my mother…”, he mocked.

“Yah. So do you want Mommy to tell you your story, or not?”

He rolled his eyes, but sat down on the bed again, pulling the covers over his legs.

Lorelai leaned back on the headboard.

“You comfy?”

“Yah.”

She took a deep breath.

“’T'was a cold and foggy morning, the day right before Halloween, but you could see the sun rising behind the mist, it would be a sunny day…”


	33. You cannot be Snow White!

It felt like he had fallen asleep only for some minutes after Lorelai’s surprise visit. Her story had been over the top extra cheesy, and somehow even his mother and deadbeat father had ended up sounding… well, nice. He had commented on the missing fairies, which had ended up in a discussion whether Tinkerbell was in love with Peter Pan or stalking him.

The phone rang mercilessly, so he felt his way blindly on the nightstand until his fingers closed around it.

Flipping the cell phone open, he cradled it against his ear, murmuring a silent “Yah…”

A cheery and slightly hysteric voice greeted him, talking in a speed he knew only two people on earth being capable of.

“You know, I just realized something?! I mean, I marked this day in my calendar, red, and with some hearts drawn around it, and you can mock me when I arrive at home this evening. Anyway, there is written _Jess’ birthday_ in my calendar and I wanted to call you before heading off to the seminar, and I became a bit nostalgic…”

She had to take a breath, which gave him the chance to send a questioning “Rory?” to her direction of this call.

“You remember when you came back to sell your book to free book stores? Of course you remember, I mean, you visited me while I was living in my grandparent’s house and started feeling really miserable about everything I was doing…”

Rolling his eyes, Jess turned to his back. He loved her, more than his life, but sometimes, just sometimes, he wished she would not talk a mile a minute when she was excited.

“Rory…” he drawled into another deep breath of his significant other.

“This day, exactly one year ago, you yelled at me, asked me what was wrong with me, told me how pathetic I was. You! It was you who brought me back on track, making me realize I had thrown everything I loved away, and…”

“I was just returning a favor”, he interrupted her this time, effectively shutting her up for a few seconds.

“Huh?” she then mouthed, making him smile.

“It was your _No!_ back then when I visited you at your dorm that brought me on track.”

Silence answered him from the other side.

Then she made a silent “Oh.”

He chuckled, imagining how her brain was racing, replaying their embarrassing encounter back then. Of course it had been Dean attached to her arm, and if he hadn’t been smart enough to realize that this tall guy could, and most probably also gladly would break him in half back then, he’d have done something stupid.

Of course it had been another guy attached to her arm when they met a year ago. All of Rory’s boyfriends had felt the threat he posed and reacted hostile towards him. It made him grin.

“Oh!! I need to tell Mom… she loves you already, but she will build you a monument and start some cult around you, I bet in 500 years from now you will be the new Buddha or something…”

“I know that your crazy mother likes me, she paid me a visit in the middle of the night to tell me a story of how I was born. I felt like a Disney-princess.”

Rory laughed.

“I called to tell you Happy birthday, Jess. Or should I call you Arielle?”

He snorted and regretted even mentioning Disney-princesses. Before he could say a thing, she had another idea.

“No!!! Jasmin! I mean, it even sounds like your name, and she also had dark hair and gorgeous dark eyes, and…”

“I’ll hang up if you continue comparing me to _that_ princess…”, he grouched. Seriously?

“But the only other princesses with black hair are Snow White and Pocahontas, because Mulan is no real princess, and you just cannot be Snow White because she is so _Oh, dear birdies, please help me, and yes, I’ll eat that apple from this scary witch_ …”

“Oh god, why did I start this?” Jess whined when his girlfriend went on counting all Disney princesses and why he couldn’t be them.


	34. Take the pregnant zombie home!

Luke had not opened the Diner yet when Jess made his way down the stairs, but he could spot Lorelai on the counter, her head heavily leaning on her hand while she was pouring maple syrup over her pancakes.

“Luke…?”

The Diner man was just preparing coffee and turned to face his wife.

“Yah?”

She just stared at him.

“I forgot what I wanted to say… argh!”

Luke rolled his eyes.

“Considering your eating habits lately, you’re gonna ask me for some spray cream and sprinkles or something equally healthy…”

“Oh! Do you have Jelly beans?!” she exclaimed, turning her head to spot her nephew-in-law, leaning casually against the wall, wearing a soft smile.

“Hey, offspring’s boyfriend. Why don’t you look like you didn’t sleep last night?”

“What tells you I didn’t sleep?” he grinned, sitting down next to her. Out of nowhere a plate appeared in front of him with a stack of pancakes.

Jess snorted.

“Seriously, Luke, a candle?”

Luke shrugged.

“It was either that or a bear hug that had to last at least a minute. Happy birthday, kid.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you chose the candle”, Jess smirked, blowing the candle out, and started digging into his breakfast.

“Well, I drove a hard bargain, right, Lor?”

Lorelai’s eyes snapped open, her head once again heavily leaning on her hand.

“Huh?”

Luke sighed.

“That’s it, I will call Sookie and tell her you’re not coming in today. You almost fell asleep twice while coming here, and we were _walking_ , for Pete’s sake! How can someone fall asleep while she is walking?!”

“I was not falling asleep, I was just resting my eyes. And it’s your kids that won’t let me sleep, because they’re always using my bladder as a punching ball. Not even born, and already totally into sports”. Lorelai complained, watching Jess smirk out of the corner of her eye.

Luke rolled his eyes.

“You were not sleeping last night because you were excited like a kid the day before Christmas because of everything you had planned for Jess’ birthday.”

While Lorelai shot back a “See, it _is_ your kids that won’t let me sleep”, Jess asked a slightly panicked “What, there’s more to come?!”

“Of course! I planned a big picnic right in the town center, you and Rory will sit in the Gazebo, Miss Patty and her kids already are practicing the ballet they will perform, and Kirk promised something very special”, Lorelai started, but then had to stifle a yawn.

Jess looked at her for a while.

“You know, this sounds totally like something you would plan. On the other hand, you also know that I’d rather sit somewhere the entire day and read a good book, and most probably skip the entire thing, no matter what you, or Luke, or Rory would say. Luke most probably would offer to hide with me.”

While Luke nodded his approval, it was now Lorelai who rolled her eyes.

“You are no fun.”

Swallowing another forkful of his pancakes, Jess mouthed a “add Taylor in a tutu, then it might be fun”, making Luke snort amusedly.

Lorelai just patted Jess’ arm.

“Don’t worry. Rory’s coming this evening, Sookie offered to cook, so we’re just meeting at our house and celebrate Cinderella’s birthday and enjoy some incredible food, and maybe a good movie.”

Jess threw Luke a desperate look.

“Rory called this morning, huh?”

“Yap. I never heard a more ridiculous conversation, especially when Lorelai decided that you were Cinderella. You are so Jasmin, seriously”, his uncle replied, making his nephew return his attention to his breakfast again, murmuring a “surrounded by idiots”.

Luke just smiled, putting a cup with coffee in front of his nephew.

“Hey, I know you said you’d help out in the Diner today, but Zack asked if he could work some extra shifts before Lane has the kids.”

Jess shrugged.

“I guess I’ll just open the letter you sent me some months ago, so I don’t have to actually work for my money, huh?”

“I told you that you don’t have to pay me the money back. Just take it as a birthday present, otherwise this poor check will be sent back and forth for years.”

Taking a deep gulp from the cup, Jess sent his uncle another unbelieving glance.

“You’re spending way too much time around your wife. Pitying an inanimate object like a check?” he mocked then.

Luke sighed. As if he didn’t know that.

“Jess…”

“See, I don’t have a problem with having the entire day for me to read. But maybe one should take that pregnant zombie home before she falls off the barstool”, he said, indicating Lorelai next to him, who once more was leaning her head on her hand.

Luke rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers in front of her face.

“Hey!!! Now I am calling Sookie, and Jess will take you home! You will go to your bed, and I don’t want to hear any complaints. Sleep, wife!”

Surprising both men, Lorelai slid off the barstool and started to put her jacket on without saying a word.

Both Jess and Luke frowned, especially when she tried to close it.

Luke took a deep breath and moved around the counter to help her, while Jess hopped off his chair and made his way upstairs to fetch his jacket.

When he came down again, Lorelai had already left the Diner and was leaning on the door.

“Just take her home and…”

He interrupted Luke by stepping into his personal space, hugging him.

After a moment, the older man hugged him back, patting his back.

Then both let go of each other.

“Do we have to hold hands now and skip?” Luke asked, making Jess laugh.

“Hey, you have your orders, and I have mine.”

“Boy, you’re so henpecked.”

“I love you, too, Uncle Luke.”

 

Taylor Doose had just opened his Doose’s Market when he saw Jess Mariano leave Luke’s Diner and take Lorelai by her arm. The woman looked very drowsy, while the young man wore an unnatural, contented smile.

Alarmed, the town selectman threw a look at the entrance of Luke’s Diner, but only saw the Dinerman flip the _Open_ sign and Kirk enter.

Taylor entered Doose’s again.

Something was wrong here.

Very wrong.


	35. Tell me something...

When Lorelai woke up she had a Murtaugh moment, thinking she definitely was too old and too pregnant for the stuff she had been doing last night. Making a mental note that she definitely wanted to watch _Lethal weapon_ at their next movie marathon, she swung her legs out of bed and got up.

Her house smelled of food, real food that somebody had cooked, and not just ordered, and she smiled. Despite his hard shell and the sometimes scary scenes with Taylor, Luke was just such a Mr. Nice Guy…

Poking her belly to make Sid move his leg away from her ribs she made her way towards the stairs, passing by the room that used to be her bedroom until she and Luke had remodeled her house. She could put up the babies’ room in there, Luke had told her when she had elaborated on her idea about the house next to the Diner. She loved her house, they could move the stuff she stored in there since her mother had decided to empty her basement and send her all the crap into a storage room, or finally sell it.

The weird thing was, she kind of could no longer see the Crap Shak as the place where she wanted to raise Sid and Nancy. The house next to the Diner was big enough for all of the kids to have their own room, even April, if she wanted and her mother got over the entire _Luke wants to be involved_ thing.

The house next to the Diner was, well, right next to the Diner, which meant Luke would not have to pass through the entire town at some ungodly hour in the morning to get his deliveries.

Even more important: She would only have to go to the Diner next door, once she was allowed to drink coffee again.

It would be hers and Luke’s home, not just a remodeling of her house…

She smiled at the sight that greeted her when she descended the stair.

Jess was sitting on the couch, a big pillow over his stomach, a sleeping baby under a blanket on said pillow, his elbow that was supporting the baby’s head on the armrest. Feet propped up on the living room table, he unconsciously played with Doula’s fingers, while his eyes scanned superhumanly fast over the pages of the book in his other hand.

“How did that happen?” she smirked, making him look up.

He looked angry, his jaw working, when he replied: “Liz obviously needed a break and dropped her off at Luke’s when the Diner was packed. There’s still some spaghetti in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

“Oh, dear, you cooked”, Lorelai exclaimed, getting the desired smirk as answer before disappearing in her kitchen-

When she reappeared, Jess had resumed his flying through a book called _The girl who kicked the hornets’ nest_. Sitting down next to him on the couch she placed her plate on her belly and started to eat.

“Heh, who knew all Danes men know their cooking. I might let Rory keep you”, she grinned, getting herself a pair of rolled, dark brown eyes and a lopsided grin.

“Does that mean I don’t have to knock her up to make her ultimately mine?”

“But kiddo, that’s a family tradition! You have to knock her up before you make her an honorable woman. Luke can tell you how it works.”

“Thanks, I figured that part out on my own some years ago.”

“Ew, are you telling me that you are in fact touching my daughter?”

“You are touching my uncle, so I guess we’re even”, he laughed, wondering if he had not been this screwed up rebel with no reason back then, how his relationships with Lorelai and Rory might have ended. Lorelai most probably would have adopted him, he’d have been a good boy and finished school, and maybe…

Shaking his head about himself he returned his eyes to his book. She had more or less adopted him now, and he enjoyed their friendly and witty banter… He got the girl in the end, so why muse about former times?

“You know, I can take care of Doula if you wanna do something else. You also don’t have to babysit me. I’m fine”, Lorelai offered, turning serious again.

Jess just watched her. This morning she hadn’t looked fine at all. He had to almost carry her up the stairs, finding out that the house actually had three bedrooms, however, the smaller one upstairs was packed with boxes. She fell asleep the second he had sat her down on the bed, so he removed her shoes, tucked her in and asked himself when he had become such a helpful person.

Of course he couldn’t make himself leave again, so he got something to drink and started reading, laughing about himself when he found out that he forgot his keys, but did not forget to bring a book that was twice the size of all the pockets of his clothes. He had cooked when he was getting hungry around noon, and had just finished eating when a slightly panicked Zack had knocked on the door, carrying Doula in her baby seat, rambling about a rush in the Diner and looking super-relieved once Jess took the seat. Boy, he so wanted to be a fly on the wall when Lane left him alone for the first time with their twins.

“It’s ok. I changed her, I fed her, I burped her, and I guess she likes the cuddling. She’s been watching me and making cute noises for half an hour before she fell asleep.” How Liz needed a break from that was beyond him. Having the kid on his lap, watching it sleep, it made his mind go blank, feeling a peace he very rarely felt. It was even better than the stray tomcat that had decided that Chris, Matt and he himself were his family now and claimed the Truncheon as his property and was just purring away every time you had him on your lap.

“Well, they can be pretty annoying once they figured out that yelling makes your parents jump around trying to figure out what you want. I still think I sometimes yelled on purpose just to bug my mother and the nanny”. Lorelai said. Then she narrowed her eyes on him.

“Since when do you know how to change, feed and burp a newborn?!”

His jaw set again.

“Since my crazy mother and her husband that most probably lacks two chromosomes decided that they had to run some urgent errands the first day I visited them and every time I visited them since then. God bless the internet.”

 

***

 

Lorelai sighed when she switched the channels of her TV. The program used to be much better in former times, this reality TV crap just made her doubt the future of the human race.

Doula’s lips greedily closed around the feeding bottle teat, and Lorelai smiled at the baby in her arms while turning off the TV. Jess had made himself comfortable again cross-legged on the couch, after she had nagged him long enough to finally hand the kid over and prepare her bottle. Totally engrossed into his book he did not realize that her focus shifted from Doula to him.

“She has to wait another half an hour”, he had told her matter-of-factly, and Lorelai didn’t even dare to ask if he was trying to establish some sort of rhythm. She was pretty sure the boy had devoured one or two (or 13) books about how to treat a newborn after figuring out that his mother took the first chance to somehow escape repeatedly. Of course this had made her nag him, and when he finally gave in (after changing the kid, and making Lorelai hold her while he made a trip to the bathroom), she realized the 30 minutes were over.

She watched how his forehead furrowed, his intense stare on the pages intensifying even more, his eyes flying faster than before. He turned pages in an interval that told her he impossibly could have read the entire content of the page before. She’d have figured he was a sloppy reader, but from what Rory had told her, he really knew his books. Rory was a fast reader, too, but she knew that her kid pedantically read every single word, no matter how boring the content of the paragraph she was just reading was. Jess was obviously more selective, rapidly dismissing entire sentences or even paragraphs his mind deemed uninteresting or non-essential.

She regretted not being nicer to him when he was sent to live with Luke. She of all people should know how your parents could screw you up, yet, she never had to sleep on a park bench or hide from a violent boyfriend in a closet. She had been biased by his attitude, not understanding his abrasive behavior, dismissing it for raging hormones during puberty, instead of trying to dig deeper.

She did not want to see how smart, caring, and vulnerable he was back then.

He most probably wouldn’t have let her come anywhere close to him, like during his confessions in the past nights.

She despised Liz for putting this on her child.

A tiny smile crept on her lips while she watched how the steep furrow between his eyebrows disappeared and an evil grin spread on his face. Obviously, something in the story turned out the way he wanted it to. After a quick snort he dog-eared the page (and Lorelai could picture her daughter grabbing her bleeding heart – _Mom, that’s what bookmarks are for!!!_ ) and closed the book, his gaze wandering to the woman feeding his sister.

“Tell me something I don’t know”, Lorelai said as he put the closed book in his lap and he frowned at her.

“Nutella has a sun protection factor of 9.7”, he deadpanned.

“Tell me there have been good times during your childhood, tell me not everything was like those few episodes you revealed, because I swear to God I am only this far away from giving your mother a piece of my mind.”

Jess frowned at her. Why on earth did she bring that up now? He’d have to dig in his memory, because all the bad things that had happened cast their shadows over what might have been good, making the good things wither away.

“Please”, she added and his eyes evaded her gaze as he ran a hand over his face.

“I… she… she always made sure we had a TV, because I was a huge fan of the Sesame street, I learned reading and counting with them before I was even potty trained”, he said, getting an urgent “More!” from the woman on the other side of the couch.

“She… gave me my first book…”, he continued, hearing another “More!”

“She gave me my second book”, he half-heartedly joked, receiving a glare.

“She took me to libraries. We once spent an entire day in a candy shop. She actually took care of me the day after because I was sick from all the sweets… I think we moved to another district before I started school, because she didn’t like the school where we’d been living before… she used to tell me I was smart.”

“You are”; Lorelai interrupted him, making him roll his eyes.

“She sent me to live here.”

“Well, that didn’t turn out that well…”

Jess smiled.

“In the long run I think it did. I guess I wouldn’t be the owner of a book store slash publishing company, date your daughter and have my third heart to heart with my mother-in-law in three days if I’d stayed in New York.”

“Maybe you’d be a Don by now, running New York’s underworld.”

He humored her and chuckled at that one, while thinking that it was more probable for him to be dead by now if he’d stayed with Liz, because either his big mouth had put him in trouble or… Screw that, he’d never have ended up as a Junkie, he’d seen what that stuff did to Liz and her friends and sworn to never be that pathetic. His big mouth would have killed him off.

His eyes focused on her again, stating a “Your turn”, when she put Doula’s empty bottle next to her and moved the baby to burp it.

“Huh?”

“Your turn”, he repeated, firmly watching her. “Tell me something about you I don’t know.”

Now it was Lorelai’s turn to avert her eyes, watching her hand rubbing Doula’s back.

He had been honest with her, so…

“I miss my mother”, she silently stated.


	36. Half a Crap Shack

Luke found Jess on the porch, leaning against the wall next to the back door, smoking a cigarette.

“I thought you’d quit?” he questioned, closing the door behind him.

“You and your wife just bestowed a house on me and my girlfriend, and half of the town is here celebrating my birthday. Sorry if I am a bit overwhelmed.”

He had accused Lorelai and Rory of inviting all of them, however, both had sworn that they had planned a family evening including Sookie, great food and a movie. What they did not know was that Babette had found out about their plans, or more specifically, about the reason for their plans. She had ganged up with Miss Patty, Gipsy, and ultimately with Sookie, who was so proud of herself to have kept the entire thing from Lorelai until the very end – and now the house was raging with party people, each of which had hugged him and gotten him a present.

He could have done without the hugging.

He was flattered they cared enough to celebrate.

“Did you reach Liz?”

Luke sighed. Everybody inside the house was cooing over Doula, yet he had to remind his sister on the telephone that her three week old daughter that she had dropped off at the Diner now was at another place, and if she didn’t want to finally fetch her. She had commented on the party noises in the background, but obviously did not connect that to the birthday of her son.

“They’ve run out of gas somewhere close to Harrisburg, and please don’t ask me what they’re doing there. They will stay the night.”

“I need to go back to Philly tomorrow morning!” Jess exclaimed, his hands fisting.

“Jess, Doula can stay with Lorelai and me, it’s not a big deal.”

Jess only looked at him. They both knew it maybe wasn’t a big deal, it was a problem, though. Unclenching a bit, he scrutinized his uncle.

“Why didn’t you tell Lorelai about how I was born? According to Liz you’ve been the one who took her to the hospital.”

Luke frowned.

“Liz told you about that?”

“Every time she felt miserable for herself she kept dragging on how her big brother hero saved the day, sometimes. That was one of the stories. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell Lorelai you knew. The first time I remember seeing you when I was a kid was at the funeral of your father, so I told her you most probably figured out she had me by then.”

“Does it matter?”

“To me, it does. She never behaved like she wanted me. So why have me at all? I guess she just figured it out too late.”

Coughing, Jess flipped the cigarette into a puddle in the lawn. Luke took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“She was 16. And not the smartest cookie in the jar. She was barely at home by the time and until I’d seen you and how you looked like Jimmy I wasn’t even sure who was your father. We had lost our mother a few years ago, and Dad was going through his second chemo, so I had my hands full with the hardware store, the hospital trips and worried myself crazy over her.”

Leaning against the door, Luke ran a hand over his face.

“She was thrilled to bits when she found out she was pregnant, she never even thought about getting rid of you. And believe me, it was not due to lack of trying from me or your grandfather, for which I’m deeply sorry, by the way.”

To say he was surprised was an understatement. Jess just stared at his uncle unbelievingly.

“She sucked at everything beyond that, mainly because she doesn’t have any discipline or the attention span to follow things through. But you never were not wanted to begin with”, Luke told his stunned nephew who was rendered speechless by now.

“She could not deal with Jimmy leaving, and was offended when Dad and I tried to interfere, because she was not actually coping well with having to take care of a newborn infant. Your grandfather was devastated when she disappeared with you one night and didn’t show up again until he died and I finally managed to hunt her down. The second the nurse handed you to him I could tell my Dad had fallen for you. Actually, according to his last will, you own half of the Hardware store.”

Jess was blinking away tears furiously by now.

“Why…”, his voice broke when he tried to ask why Luke had not told him that earlier. It maybe would have made Stars Hollow not just the place where he’d been shipped off to because his mother didn’t want him anymore.

“Honestly? I don’t think you’d have wanted to hear all of that when you were 17.”

Yah, most probably he wouldn’t.

Taking a deep breath, Jess leaned his head against the wall.

“So… I own half of the Diner, huh?”

“We can tell Taylor next time you’re here, I bet his head will explode”, Luke grinned.

 

***

 

Rory slid out to the porch when Luke walked back into the house again. Sitting down on the table next to Lorelai, he grabbed some of the grapes that Sookie had pinned to whatever cheese she had dragged here today and slowly munched the first piece.

He had a small smile on his face, making his wife frown at him.

“What happened out there?”

“I have to tell you the real story of how Jess was born. If we leave out the fact that Liz was completely stoned and I almost crashed the car because she was getting paranoid, he might actually like it.”

Patting his arm, Lorelai smiled.

“Next year, Sweetheart. I just sent Rory out to arrange for a silent escape for him, I know that they meant well, but it’s just too many people for Jess. Doula’s staying with us tonight, I guess?”

Luke nodded, his smile slightly fading.

He really hoped that his sister got it together this time.

 

***

 

“Your mother is crazy”, he stated, making her lift her head and stop tracing the outlines of the stellar tattoo on the triceps of his right arm. He didn’t change his position, stretched out on his back on what used to be Luke’s bed in the apartment over the Diner, hands crossed beneath his head, staring into the darkness.

She placed a kiss on his lips, telling him “We really need to work on your pillow talk”, while her lips worked down his neck. He was laughing softly.

“I was anticipating a Hello Kitty writing set, hell, maybe even a watch or a new laptop…”

“I got you a watch”, she interrupted him, her fingers tracing his pecs.

“And I love it”, he replied, his fingers tracing down her bare back.

“But a house? Who the hell gives you a house as a birthday present?”

Rory giggled.

“If it makes you feel better: You only got half a house as a birthday present. I got the other half.”

“Ror…”

“See, that’s Mom’s way of telling you that you are family. She and Luke need a bigger place, and they need something that is theirs, not just remodeled hers. And this way it’s kept in the family… though, if that’s making you feel tethered, then just let her know…”

This time he kissed her.

“I don’t feel chained. I just feel like I didn’t do anything to deserve such a big gift.”

“Jess, I have a strong feeling that if not William was running on the first place of a very short list for Sid’s actual names, she would name her firstborn son after you just for getting me back into Yale.”

“Good Lord, no, another poor kid running around with that name? From first to fourth grade my name in school was mocked for Jessica.”

“Until fourth grade only? They came up with something better then?”

“Nope, Liz was moving again, and at the new school I made pretty sure that I was _no_ Jessica.”

“Uh, my man is such a tough guy”, Rory giggled, her finger trailing down his abs.

Jess laughed.

“Your _man_? Seriously?”

“Hey, I’m trying to seduce you here, and all you want to talk about is that stupid house. Okay, so… I want to remodel my old room and make it an office and we definitely need more book shelves in the li…. Mmmmh…”

He had turned them in one swift motion, pinning her underneath his body and claimed her mouth.

“Hey, if you wanna seduce me, all you have to say is _I’m up for round three_ …”


	37. All you have to do...

_Saturday after Thanksgiving_

 

Emily Gilmore had a shopping fit. It would have been insane to raid the stores on Black Friday, where tons of people stumbled over each other to buy whatever came in reach, so she had waited for the day after.

Napkins, porcelain apples, three new coats for herself, even though she despised fur coats, but they had been soft, and she wanted something soft. She had bought five new suits for Richard, even though he was barely talking to her, and matching cuff links. Her maid would have five new uniforms, her kitchen would have an entire set of new pots and pans, her bedroom would have new sheets, as would the guestroom to which Richard had chosen to move.

At least, this time he did not move out of the house…

Sighing, she bought two more hats and a cardigan, before deciding that she needed some belts to go with her new shoes, briefly thinking back to that time when she wanted to buy that Gulfstream because Richard had deemed her life’s achievements more or less ridiculous and unimportant.

It had hurt, and it still did, because she knew that he was right to some point. Her life consisted of planning functions, hosting fundraisers, and attending tea parties.

However, before, this had always been good enough for him, or, more precisely, it was what everybody, including her husband, expected from her. She had a college degree in History, but never put it to a use after she was married. She was the perfect society wife, doing perfect society things, having a perfect society life with a perfect society child.

Hah, yah, sure! Everything was just so perfect.

Her husband was not talking to her, she had, once more, driven her daughter away, she had deeply hurt her granddaughter when lashing out at her, and Richard had tried once to show her ultrasound pictures of her new grandchildren, which had resulted in a crying fit and the plea to not do this to her again. She had missed out almost all of the pregnancy, she did not want to be reminded that she hurt Lorelai and Luke and everybody and did not know why she was hurting them in the first place.

When she left the last shop, she could see that she was close to the fast food booths where she, Lorelai and Rory had spent one of their nicer meals together and, in a spur of the moment, decided to repeat her experience with a burger.

She ended up also buying chili fries and a salad, and somehow found the phone number of the coffee guy on one of her napkins, which actually made her smile a little. Heading for a table that was a bit hidden in a corner next to a pillar, she sat down and started eating her burger, surprised that she actually enjoyed the taste. The chili fries made her cough at first, because they were spicy, so she took a big gulp of her coffee, when she could hear two people rush to the table on the other side of the pillar. Her eyes grew wide and she tried to hide even more in her corner when she heard a familiar voice.

 

***

 

“You think we gave him the slip?” Rory was giggling like crazy while holding onto Jess for dear life at the same time because she had just stumbled and was almost falling over her own feet.

Jess was still sorting his limbs and her bags, but managed to sit her down on a chair without looking too clumsy.

“I think so. That’s what I get for having such a hot girlfriend. Model scouts stalking you throughout the entire mall!” He fell down onto the other chair and let all the bags fall to the floor. “Why again did I volunteer to drive you, April and her friends to the mall?”

Rory peeked around the pillar, but swiftly pulled her head back.

“You never volunteered. You more or less jumped out of the window of my bedroom when you saw TJ and Liz entering through the front door and then wrestled my car keys out of my hand, telling me _I’ll drive, no matter where, please let it be Mexico!_ ” she told him in her deep Jess-voice, making him chuckle.

“And you know what, I guess that guy was not after me”, she then stated, getting a weird look.

“Huh?”

“He started following us when you were buying that coat and the scarf. Uh, uh, maybe he’s from Calvin Klein, make sure we get one of the posters where they only show you from chest to thighs in boxer briefs in black and white. We’ll put it up in the living room and I can tell everybody that those are my man’s abs!”

Jess snorted. Her man, again, huh?

“Why would you do that?”

“Because otherwise Mom will never believe me what you are hiding under these long-sleeved shirts and pullovers.”

“Your mother already saw me naked, Rory, no need to show her again”, he responded, his face entirely serious. Rory frowned.

“When did that happen?”

“I’m more or less living with her since the docs put her on bed rest two weeks ago. She walked in on me in the bathroom.”

“I cannot tell you how much I wish the remodeling of Luke’s and mom’s house to be finished… Crashing in my old room is okay, but I want the Crap Shack to be our house, finally. I miss the solitude of the apartment over the Diner, seriously.”

Jess grabbed her chin, kissing her softly.

“It’s only a few more days, Tom says they’re almost finished. And I promise I’ll come up with something more romantic when we’re finally alone in our house than the _Let’s skip the how you’ve been_ and taking you up against the entrance door from that one time I came back from Philly in the middle of the night.”

Rory blushed furiously, which made him kiss her again. Leaning her forehead against his she said: “I wasn’t complaining, was I? What I didn’t need was the pregnancy scare afterwards. I still don’t get how you stayed that calm.”

Jess shrugged, caressing her cheek.

“I actually wouldn’t have minded. Both of us are great with Doula, you were the first one she smiled at. And since I convinced Matt and Chris to let me take over most of the editing, and they run the book store and the recruitment of new writers, I can work from where ever I want…”

“I’m still happy that you decided to not sell your part of the Truncheon.”

“Believe me, Chris and Matt were happy, too.”

“So… you want kids.”

“According to your mother knocking you up is a prerequisite to marrying you. She told me to ask Luke, he’d let me know how it works.”

“You wanna marry me?”

“Eventually, yes.”

“But I don’t wanna be fat when we’re getting married”, Rory told him in mock hysteria

“Well, obviously it’s a family tradition, who are we to break it?” he grinned.

“Do I have to tell you what happened the last time someone told us to screw tradition?”

“Well, I actually screwed… ow!” Rory swatted his arm before he finished the sentence.

“For that you are going to feed me. And you will try on that suit from that store before. Maybe the guy from Calvin Klein is still around.”

Jess sighed in surrender before even putting up a fight. And actually, shopping was not that bad, especially after April and her two friends had taken off for some more girly shops… he just had to keep up the _guys don’t like shopping_ attire to humor her.

“Chili fries and a burger?”

“And coffee. And some nachos with cheese. Maybe also something from the Chinese department, everything but duck… oh, and some ice cream.”

Getting up from his chair he pecked her lips.

“If I didn’t know your eating habits I’d say we already fulfilled the family tradition.”

“I still want to get married first.”

 

***

 

Emily was shocked from the conversation she had just witnessed.

She and Richard… they very rarely had conversations like these, jumping from one topic to the next, while being totally at ease with each other during delicate topics. The main reason was Richard not being able to follow her mental leaps, though.

That boy apparently didn’t have these problems. She reached for another fry when she heard her granddaughter’s voice again.

“He wants to marry me and he wants kids!”

There was a short pause, then Rory said into her cellphone: “No, Mom, this is not the wrong way round!”

She listened to her mother again.

“But he wants to marry me.”

_Yah, so?_ Emily imagined her daughter’s answer.

“And he wants kids!”

_And where’s the problem?_ Emily thought.

“There is no problem. I just thought that with his traumatic childhood and Liz’s five failed marriages it would be a bit harder to convince him that he’d be good in that.”

Rory again listened for a while and then giggled. Emily was still thinking about the traumatic childhood comment.

“No, Mom, I’m not going to trade him for Luke. You’re stuck with him… and actually, I have to say that the apple-nephew did not fall far from the uncle-tree, if you know what I mean, so you’re not off that bad…”

Once more there was silence, and then an embarrassed chuckle.

“Well, not only you can walk in on people in the bathroom”, Rory grinned and Emily couldn’t help but silently laugh.

Once more, Rory listened to her mother, then started a rant about somebody named Liz, cooed over somebody named Ernest which turned out to be a cat, and told her mother goodbye when Jess reappeared with her food.

“They didn’t have Chili fries anymore, I got you some with salt and vinegar.”

“For whom is the rabbit food?” Rory questioned and motioned for the salad as he sat down next to her.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware that I was not allowed to eat anything.”

“You are really turning into a health nut like Luke.”

“Well, somebody has to outweigh the amount of junk food you and your mother are consuming.”

Both were eating for a while in silence, until Jess spoke up again.

“How the heck can you be already finished when I’m only halfway through my salad?!”

“It’s a special power. Can we at least get engaged before you knock me up?”

Jess shook his head and laughed.

“I guess there’s nothing in this weird family tradition that your mother started that speaks against it. Thinking about it, Luke and Lorelai were engaged, too, when they sired Sid and Nancy.”

“Great, I saw this Jeweler right next to the book store where I still have to put _The Subsect_ to the recommendation shelf.”

“So, we’re doing this now?”

“Yap.”

Jess laughed again.

“Before or after you put my book on the recommendation shelf?”

“Of course before. Then I can brag in the bookstore about my hot fiancée who wrote one of the best short novels ever and soon is going to be a Calvin Klein underwear model. And you can stop looking at me like I lost my mind, you knew what you were getting yourself into.”

 

***

 

Emily was still taken aback. This was just no way to propose, actually, nobody even proposed, they more or less just decided to be engaged now.

Normally she would have snapped by now, yelling at someone, shouting at someone else, trying to fix things, to make them the way they were supposed to be.

The weird thing was, the more she thought she was despising her granddaughter’s boyfriend, the more she marveled about the happiness their conversation radiated. As if it had been decided a long time ago that they were meant for each other, even if they had to overcome some obstacles before.

A shadow fell over her as she was musing, and she looked up. He was still lean and only a tad taller than Rory, wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a light blue pullover under a black and apparently new coat. She remembered him clean shaven, however, now a nicely cultivated beard gave his face a more mature look.

“I told Rory I forgot my scarf and sent her to the jeweler already.”

She only made an inarticulate “Oh.”

“I saw you when I came back from fetching food. Please forget most of the conversation you heard before. And you probably also should forget most of what you heard afterwards.”

Emily still only looked at Jess. She did not know what to say. Normally, she was a pro in small talk, just, what did you say in a situation like this? She certainly would not talk to him about the weather, or politics.

Jess stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat. He knew Lorelai would kick his ass if she knew he was meddling with that. Most probably Rory also would.

“All you have to do is show up and apologize. And try not to criticize their every decision afterwards. I don’t care what you think about me, but both your daughter and granddaughter do. I’d start with Rory, if I were you, she’s easier to convince. We’re staying at her flat in New Haven for the next few days.”

He was already turning around when she found her voice again.

“How is Lorelai? You said something about bed rest…”

“She is fine. The kids are heavy and are straining her back, she had some spasms, so they put her on bed rest.”

“And you are staying with her?”

“I am working from home, and we get along quite well. If you want the entire story, talk to Lorelai and Rory. Both of them miss you.”

She wanted to know more, she wanted to ask a lot of things, but he had turned around now, exiting the restaurant area.

Getting up from her place she left her barely touched food behind and headed for the exit as well.

She had to think. To plan. Basically, she had to eat humble pie.

But first, she had to go to the book store.


	38. Grandpa's Jess

“I swear, Mariano, if you publish that book, I will personally hunt you down in Philadelphia and set your bookstore on fire!”

Paris Gellar had arrived at her and Rory’s flat only 10 minutes ago, and was already annoying him. She had only glanced at the screen of his netbook, and then dragged it over to the place where she had sat down on the table, scrolling down the page as she did so, and started threatening him.

Jess just sighed as he walked up and down before the kitchen island, burp cloth over the left side of his chest and shoulder, patting Doula’s back.

“Paris, I only started reading.” And it had been painful. He had to force himself to not read his normal way, namely skipping everything that was not interesting to even start on the first chapter, and gave up after two paragraphs. He would try the next two chapters, and if he could not fly over them in his usual way, it was not worth the space it used up on his harddisk.

“I’ve read StarTrek fanfiction that was better!” Paris exclaimed in the meantime.

“Then, for heaven’s sake, don’t read the stuff I’m editing, Gellar!”

Paris just huffed, and continued reading.

“Oh my god, is this even English? Or any other spoken language?

“Paris, please… I think Chris just digs the chick who wrote that, and Matt is trying to help… Can’t you just leave it alone?”

Paris threw her temporary flat-mate a look. He looked tired, probably because the kid he had dragged here two days ago when he and Rory had come back from Stars Hollow wasn’t sleeping properly. At least, it wasn’t sleeping properly during the nights, she had no clue about the days, when she and Rory were attending their courses, and he was sitting here, working.

She liked coming home to a meal that was actually cooked, and not ordered, because Rory was just way too into junk food, and always roped her into it. And damn, he cooked well, and he did it on most the occasions Rory had brought him here.

“Then why even read it? If she is as smart as I assume from what I’m reading here, she has the IQ of a mashed potato, she will believe that you’re publishing it, and you can take the evening off.”

“Why, Paris, you almost sound like you care about my wellbeing”, Jess mocked and got a little smile.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’d have to deal with Rory, and your kid, so you better not pass out on me here from exhaustion.”

Jess rolled his eyes.

“She’s my sister, Paris, you know that.”

She did not respond to that, they had had this argument about his mother taking off in the most mistimed moments, and him being sick of having random people taking care of the little one. So Doula was stuck with him, whenever Liz decided to bail out on them.

She just liked teasing him about _his_ kid, because most of the time he became really agitated.

“You still have not proven that to me, and she _so_ has your eyes”, she grinned, and was saved by a knock on the door when he took a breath to answer that.

Paris just leaned back on her chair and looked at him.

“Your turn.”

“We are taking turns in opening the door?”

“You are up already.”

Rolling his eyes once more, Jess decided that he was too tired to put up another fight with Paris. So he just walked over to the entrance door, threw a sidewards glance to the baseball bat leaning in the corner, and then briefly peeked through the spyhole, letting out a snort when he saw who exactly was standing there.

He had forgotten that he was still carrying Doula when he opened the door, and was greeted by Emily’s downright confused glance at him, the child against his shoulder and Paris sitting at the kitchen table, as he welcomed her.

“Mrs. Gilmore, what a surprise, please…”

Paris, of course, had to make herself noticed.

“Aw, rats, couldn’t you come tomorrow? I had 20 bucks on that date!”

 

***

 

Rory blazed into the apartment half an hour later, throwing her bag next to the baseball bat, and started a full blown rant about her day the same second, struggling to get out of her coat, scarf, hat, gloves and shoes.

“I swear to god this world will end rather sooner than later, the increasing stupidity must have some reason! They must have dropped the standards for accepting students lately, because I bet those kids never even used a word processing program, let alone they know how to spell in the first place.”

She was hopping on one leg now, because her shoe wouldn’t come off her foot, but that didn’t cause her to end her rant.

“And then this guy who calls himself _Duuuuude_ all the time has the nerve to hand in three different versions of an article that was due yesterday. I want to fire him, but I’m just too nice…”

Her shoe finally let go of her foot, sending her arms up. She let it fall and started on her other leg.

“Oh, and you remember Barbie doll? That blonde chick I always wanna feed when I see her, because a stick has actually more curves, and who for whatever reason has the hots for _Duuuude_? She really asked why the Yale Daily News wasn’t reporting more about Cameron Diaz’ latest movie, because then she would tell _all_ her friends to get that paper, to finally make some money with it. Argh! We’re the oldest student-run paper in the US, and we’re making not any money with it!”

By now she was almost strangling herself with her scarf and slightly wondering why nobody had interrupted her rant yet.

“Next time you wanna snap at Barbie Doll or _Duuuuude_ , I’m not gonna hold you back, Paris. Or even better, I’ll bring you, Jess”, she said, finally turning around to face their table. “That guy is just so mockable, I wanna see you making him cry, and great, now I owe you a 20”, she deadpanned, spotting her grandmother seated between Paris, who was looking at her with a frown, and Jess, who was pretending to be busy keeping the pacifier in Doula’s mouth to not burst into a laughing fit.

Emily Gilmore closed her fingers around her cup with coffee and sent both Jess and Paris an incredulous look.

“How many people have in fact been betting on the date I would come here?!”

Paris shrugged.

“Just a few. Tana, Janet… basically everybody who knows you are her grandmother. I just can’t believe Jess of all people got the right date!”

 

***

 

Paris was more or less shoving and kicking Jess out of the apartment, telling him that is was his turn to buy her dinner.

“Good Lord, Gellar, let me put on my shoes, will you!”

“Mariano, you take more time than every girl I know to get ready. Rory won’t kill your kid, and I’ve got your six!” she exclaimed, giving him a final push out of the door that almost sent him into the opposite wall, closing the entrance door behind them, leaving an astonished Emily, and an embarrassed Rory.

“Doula’s Jess’ sister, and not his child”, she piped up after a while, taking a look at the sleeping baby in the travelling bed they had purchased sometime in the last weeks with Liz unannouncedly springing her kid on someone, and then taking off with TJ for good.

Emily made a silent “Oh” to that, for the first time in her life feeling too shy to say a word, because it might have been the wrong choice. She had not exactly practiced what she wanted to say, she just couldn’t stand sitting around at home anymore, after having heard that Lorelai was not fine, and that her granddaughter was moving forward in her life without her being there to witness it. After what she had heard in the mall, she had become restless, even Richard had commented on it.

Visiting Rory at the very same day would have been stupid. Jess had told her that they would be staying in New Haven the next days, but he had not been very precise on when they would go there. She had assumed they would stay the rest of the weekend in Stars Hollow, and had given them the Monday to arrive in New Haven.

Coming to think of it, Jess did not have to make that many calculations to bet on Tuesday.

“It is nice of him to spend time with his sister”, she then said, and actually also meant it. At this, Rory’s glance became hard. Of course, it was nice to have Doula around. But lately, the child was spending more than half of the week with them, and not with her mother. Every time they had Doula finally trained to some sort of a rhythm that included sleeping in the night for longer than 3 hours, Liz reappeared again, and destroyed everything.

Emily carefully watched her. She had not thought that this would be so hard, and obviously, Rory did not want to make small talk.

“I… I am sorry. This is none of my business”, she offered quietly, only to have Rory blush and look at her apologizingly.

“No… Grandma… it is nice.” She took a deep breath. She was a journalist, for heaven’s sake, she should be better with words.

“Jess told me about Saturday in the mall…” Rory blushed furiously – Oh God, their conversation back then… she never wanted her Grandmother of all people to know about...

Emily looked at her granddaughter, turning all crimson and hiding her head in her hands, and thought back to all the times she had wished Lorelai would open up to her about her life when she was still a teenager, yet, she had been so stuck in her conventions, in what was expected from her by the society, that she never could see past them.

She would lose all of her family, if she didn’t break out of these conventions now.

“I promised to forget the things you talked about before he went to fetch food, and most of what I witnessed afterwards.”

Her glance now rested on Rory’s hands, on the bare ring finger of her left hand. Had Jess told her about her knowledge of their engagement, and they had decided not to do it?

“As if somebody could forget a conversation like that… Normally he’s so quiet and brooding, and when we’re alone, he turns into Mom and talks about everything…”

Resting her hands on the table again, Rory’s glance followed that of Emily who was still watching her hands.

“We bought a ring, but he’s refusing to give it to me”, she actually pouted, making Emily snuffle amusedly, before she reached over, taking her granddaughter’s hands in hers.

“I am sorry. I hurt you deeply, and please believe me, I did not mean what I said.”

“I know, Grandma. Mom told me how you reacted when Straub suggested abortion. I was hurt more by how you reacted about Jess and my decisions. I love him, Grandma. I loved him already when I was 17 and tried to deny it, because Dean was just so perfect, and I did not want to hurt him. From the first time I saw him, I was attracted to him, everybody around me knew that he meant trouble, hell, even I knew he was trouble. And he knew it as well. Still, I was drawn to him, and he was drawn to me. Don’t you know how that feels? To find that one person, and you’d do everything to be with him?”

Emily averted her eyes.

Yes. She knew how that felt. A little more than 41 years ago she had met that person and moved heaven and hell to be with him. She had destroyed his relationship with another woman to be with him, not that he needed much of persuasion.

“I tried. I tried so hard to stay with nice, dependable Dean”, Rory continued. “Everything I wanted was Jess, however. I just tried as hard to stay with Logan, and still it didn’t take any effort to leave him once I finally made up my mind that this time, Jess would not break my heart, and I would not break his. The thing with Dean was not supposed to last. I would have been miserable with Logan in the end.”

Emily locked her eyes onto the cerulean ones of her granddaughter. Richard had tried to refuse her in the beginning. He was engaged, he was about to marry in a few days, and still they were circling each other like predators. Oh, he had tried so hard, and still, in the end Emily had won. Why had she never seen the similarities?

Reaching out, she caressed Rory’s cheek.

“I know exactly how you feel. And I should have realized it earlier. After all, I was your Grandfather’s Jess.”


	39. Emily's secret

“And knowing my Great-Grandmother, you also know how it feels to be disapproved of for no other reason than being yourself. He does not deserve this, Grandma. He’s not that 17 year old hooligan, as you so nicely put it, anymore. And even though he rather fills Mom in into details of his past, I have a vague idea that back then it was the only way he could come up with to deal with his life…”

Emily frowned.

“He is talking to Lorelai about his traumatic childhood?”

Rory frowned back at her grandmother, but then recalled when she had been talking about this.

“Oh, I forgot that you also heard my slightly hysterical phone call. To be honest, I don’t know much. Mom keeps making jokes about the Sesame Street, which he counters with _When the suitor of the day didn’t take off with the TV_. She made a big show of hiding Luke’s golf clubs, having Jess burst into a laughing fit I never witnessed before, and there are some weird insider jokes about salami. He has a rather large scar on his left leg that looks pretty old and some scars that look like cigarette burns, and he refuses to tell me how he got them. It doesn’t take that much to put 2 and 2 together if you know his mother, though.”

Emily was taken aback by Rory’s expression. When she had quoted Jess, her voice had dropped an octave and a small smile lurked around the corners of her mouth. When she talked about her boyfriend’s mother, her voice was dripping with venom.

Emily glanced at the traveling bed. Having the baby here made more and more sense.

“So… your mother has really changed her mind about him?”

Rory’s gaze followed Emily’s.

“Yes. She more or less adopted him, and programmed herself on speed dial number two in his cell phone. I was there when she was reasoning with him why she should be number one… _I know, Rory will always be your number one, but really, Mommy should be your number one, and the girlfriend should be on the second place!”_

“Your mother is insane.”

“I know. Must be the genes”, Rory deadpanned, making Emily smirk in fact.

 

***

 

When Jess and Paris arrived back at the flat, Emily and Rory were still sitting on the table in the kitchen, clutching two cups of coffee, and talking agitatedly. Doula was awake by now, making noises, and Rory reached into the bed absentmindedly, putting the pacifier back into her mouth.

While Paris claimed loudly that she would take the first turn in the bathroom, Jess made his way over to the table, setting down a bag with food, and pecking her lips, while pushing the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows.

“I brought you Lasagna. You fed her already?”

Rory’s fingers brushed briefly over his jaw before snatching the bag open.”

“Nope, she still has to wait a bit, otherwise she will be fussing the entire night. Oh, Tiramisú!”

Jess smiled.

“Come on, who brings Italian food and doesn’t bring Italian desert? You guys okay again?”

Emily flinched a bit about being addressed as a guy, but Rory’s bright smile when she continued digging through the bag made her forget about it again.

“Yeah… and if there are… uh, Grissini, you are a God! You also want something, Grandma? I am willing to share.”

Jess laughed.

“Oh, wow, you should take her up on that, last time I tried to steal some Grissini, she almost bit me.”

“You should know better than coming between a Gilmore and her food. The burger incident with Mom should have opened your eyes.”

“Just because your mother insists on actually eating for three, which is Gilmore for _6 people would be full for three days_ , it does not mean that she can have _my_ burger before even starting on hers.”

“Yah, but over arguing about that, both of your burgers got cold!”

Emily silently watched how the two young people interacted. Jess was casually checking on the child, while gently caressing Rory’s cheek, her fingers tracing his while they were bickering, a gentle swat on his arm that made him laugh.

“Grandma?”

Snapped out of her observations, Emily sent Rory a soft smile.

“No, thank you. I should go home now, Richard might be worried by now. Maybe Jess could walk me down to the car?”

While Jess sent Rory a questioning frown, she just answered with an encouraging smile. He shrugged.

“Sure. Why not.”

 

***

 

“Listen, while I’m glad that you and Rory worked things out, you don’t have to bother with me. As I told you, I don’t care what you think about me.”

Jess had just closed the door behind him and his expression had turned from the soft and caring appearance that he just could not switch off around his girlfriend to a stern, cold one, when Emily turned around as he addressed her.

She took a deep breath.

Jess just steadied himself for what was going to come.

He was not prepared for her reaching out, tracing her fingers over three circular scars on his right forearm right over a worn out leather bracelet.

“My father caught my mother when she burnt me the first time, sometimes I am still wondering what else would have happened that evening, had he not come home earlier from a business trip. She was barely 21, and stuck with a five year old and a man her parents made her marry because he knocked her up. She never touched me again, but…”

Jess frowned at the woman in front of him. What was she trying to tell him?

“I never wanted Rory to live through what I had to suffer – a mother that despised me, a family that did not want me… a father that loved me but was working all the time and never around.”

“You obviously know nothing about your daughter”, Jess stated. So, she was relating to him, somehow, sharing marks from cigarette burns and emotional abuse? She still was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth.

Emily threw him a hurt look. As if she did not know that by herself.

“I made so many mistakes… I just wanted the best for this baby… my childhood was horrible.”

“And for your mother it was just peachy, I guess. Being the slut who roped one high society stud with all the best possibilities away from sleeping around during college, sitting at home, bored beyond belief, or drunk beyond reason. And most probably with similar family issues with her parents. Things must have been fun with the DAR.”

Emily set her jaw. How could he dare to be so blunt?

“And while you did everything to make sure your granddaughter’s life wasn’t anything but yours, you made your daughter’s life hell, because you decided that everything she did was wrong, before she even had a chance to do something wrong.”

Raising his hand, he shut her off before she could respond anything to that.

“If there is one thing that I learned from my experiences with a drug addict, alcohol addict, abusive, promiscuous, deadbeat of a mother that had a hand for picking out guys that either stole our furniture or beat me or her into hospital: put that stuff behind you, and live your life. Hold on to things that make you happy, stay away from booze and meth, and try to not majorly piss off the people that actually like you.”

His gaze was on her, an unconcerned look on his face, his hands by now casually in the pockets of his pants.

“You still want me to walk you down to your car?”

She was reminded of that one time he had looked at her like this, when he had stood up to her in Lorelai’s bedroom, when she had been cornering her.

“I… I will let myself out…”

She was already at the stairs when she heard his voice again.

“Hey, Emily.”

She stopped and turned around, seeing him in the same stance as when she had turned away.

“Yes?”

“We’ll be in Stars Hollow Friday evening. Make sure to visit Luke’s before heading to the Crap shack. You owe him an apology as well. Bring your husband.”

He was already through the entrance door of the apartment when she managed to shake off her astonishment. This young man had summarized her life in three sentences, and made her want to cry about her every mistake with less than one.

He made her think, her mind was racing.

Apologizing to Rory had been easy.

She had done so much more damage to her relationship with Lorelai, and he made her think about it!!

“Damn that hooligan”, she tried to curse.

She could not hide the smile when she said it, though.


	40. Playing house.

Rory would have jumped when her cell phone rang in the middle of the night, but she was too tired for excessive movements. Groaning, she reached for it, flipping it open while silently cursing whoever was at the other end of the line.

_“Orlando Bloom!”_ a cheery voice exclaimed, while Rory still tried to force her eyes open.

“Mom…?”

_“Orlando Bloom!”_ Lorelai repeated, sounding even more exited.

Rory ran a hand over her face and drowsily answered “Johnny Depp?”

A slightly confused “ _Huh?”_ reached her from the receiver.

“I thought you were playing ‘Name actors from _Pirates of the Caribbean_ ’. It’s your turn to say Keira Knightley. I was sleeping, Mom, what do you want?”

“ _It’s half past eleven, Grandma, why are you already asleep? You’re a student, you should be partying!”_

Rory tried to sit up in her bed, only to find out that she was on the couch of her apartment, covered by a blanket, her right side that was facing the back of the couch more or less immobilized, because Doula was sleeping on her.

“Oh… Doula was fussing, and Jess was already asleep, so I just took care of her… and obviously fell asleep, as well. Orlando Bloom, Mom?”

_“Oh, I was just trying to figure out why Jess’ attire lately looked so familiar, and then I watched Elizabethtown again. He so rocks the Drew Baylor looks!”_

“Mom! Drew Baylor was contemplating suicide most of the movie!”

“ _The looks, babe, not the vibe!”_

“Moooom…”

She was still trying to figure out how to get her arm out from under the baby without waking her.

_“Sooooo… did something happen today? Handsome guy finally gave you that ring? Paris finally let Doyle back into the apartment? The wicked witch coming by to apologize?”_

Rory by now had squeezed her phone between her ear and her shoulder and slid off the couch, picking Doula up in the process while being glad that nobody was there to witness her rather ungraceful movements. Walking over to the traveling bed, she almost face palmed herself.

“Oh… sorry, I wanted to call you. Yes, Grandma showed up and apologized.”

_“Come on, you know I’m way more interested in what happens in the Doyris compartment!”_

“Doyris?”

“ _Paroyle sounds weird, so I’m gonna ship Doyris.”_

Her daughter chuckled as she settled the baby into the travelling bed.

“Because Doyris doesn’t sound weird… She is answering the phone again when he is calling, and she agreed to be taken out for dinner. I’m still trying to keep Jess and me out of a couple date.”

_“Tell that boyfriend of yours that he owes me half of what he collects from you guys for picking the right date.”_

“Only my mother would bet on the date Emily Gilmore finally made up her mind”, Rory giggled and covered the baby with a blanket.

_“Mommy also bet on the date Emily will raid Stars Hollow. You know, girl, apocalypse is approaching… my mother admitting she was wrong and apologizing to me definitely will be followed by doomsday…”_

“Uh, Jess will rock the Terminator outfits!”

“ _But Luke won’t... Maybe we should rather go for another apocalyptic vision like Mad Max?”_

“Those outfits were even worse, Mom!” Kneeling down next to the traveling bed, Rory put the pacifier back into Doula’s mouth before the baby could even think about starting to fuss and cooed a “Shh shh shh, baby, everything’s fine. Just sleep for a few hours.”

“ _Playing house is not that easy, huh, kiddo? Just tell Mommy that Jess is not letting you do all the work, like, I don’t know, waking up to the crying kid, wake you up and telling you ‘Hey, Ror, the kid wants something’…”_

Rory chuckled silently while trying to stifle a yawn.

“Actually, I might have done something like that before turning around and peacefully going back to sleep last night. Jess is great with Doula. I just never thought that something so sweet could be so exhausting”, she answered honestly and caressed the baby’s cheek.

_“You could have left her with me and Luke. We understand that the two of you want some time away from construction sites and your Mommy and Daddy…”_

“You know very well that Doula goes where Jess goes. And with you around he just doesn’t get his work done.”

_“Are you implying that I am distracting Jess?”_

“Well, you pestering him for two days straight to show you how to pick a lock might count as a distraction…”

_“He’s a bit more persistent than Luke in withstanding my powers, though. He’s still refusing to show me.”_

Rory stayed quiet for a while, watching the sleeping child.

“Mom…”

_“Yah?”_

“It can’t go on like this. I’m angry at Liz every time she shows up at our door step, while on the other hand I am relieved that Doula’s not around her when she is with us. I’m getting more and more reluctant every time we have to give her back… And Jess must feel like 100 times worse about that. We need to do something…”

_“Sweetie…”_

“I feel awful for despising Liz, but… how can you do that to your child? Doula’s not even my kid, and I’d wrestle a bear to keep her safe…” Rory was astonished by her own statement. She heard her mother sigh at the other end of the line.

_“Talk to Jess about it. And I guess he won’t get around talking to his mother, as much as he tries to avoid it all the time. Maybe she’ll realize that even though she is clean and sober, she’s still neglecting her child. Maybe she needs professional help and just needs the final push.”_

“She has a husband to do that! He never even asked for Doula or fetched her when she was with us.”

Liz didn’t do that, too. Sometimes she called, and most of the time remembered that her daughter was with her son when he mentioned the child. She or Jess were taking the baby to their house all the time.

Lorelai did not answer. TJ just was another chapter. He was a nice guy, most probably nicer, more caring and less violent than most of the other husbands Liz had before. But he also was weird, and double-minded and, well, not the smartest cookie in the jar…

Rory yawned again while watching Doula.

She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping. Lately she caught herself on more than one occasion just watching the baby sleep and feeling calm.

_“Go, sleep, Kiddo. Liz will still be there tomorrow. Tell Jess I said Hi.”_

“Will do. You tell Luke I sad hi. And poke Sid and Nancy a bit for me.”

_“Hehe, all your experiences with Doula will come in handy when we need a babysitter for those two.”_

“As long as I don’t have them for three days every week, it will be my pleasure to babysit.”

_“Good night, Gerti.”_

“Good night, Heidi…”

_“Oh, and by the way, I was going to say Zoë Saldaña… you know I don’t like Keira.”_

“But Mom, she was the only real man on that ship!”

 

***

 

It took her another ten minutes to finally drag herself away from the baby bed and return to her bedroom.

Stopping at the door sill, she watched Jess sleeping in her bed. He was lying on this bed and snoring softly, but she knew that as soon as she would climb in, his body would wrap around her and they would sleep curled into each other.

She shook her head about herself when she realized that after watching Doula sleep, she now was doing the same with her boyfriend. Closing the door behind her, she tiptoed to the bed, and as she had predicted, as soon as she was under the covers, Jess turned to his side, wrapping his arms around her.

“Baby sleep?” he mumbled into her ear and she had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing out loud and really waking him.

“Mmmhmmm”, she mumbled back, leaning into his embrace and closing her eyes. Sooner or later either the kid would cry or the alarm clock would go off, so…

“Next cry’s my turn…”

She could not stifle a giggle now.

At least both of them were playing house.


	41. Hesitation increases in relation to risk

“Emily?”

Richard Gilmore closely watched his wife. Ever since she had reappeared from her visit to New Haven and Rory, she seemed happier than before.

Every hour approaching the day that the _“obnoxious, pert hooligan of a boyfriend”_ as she had put it, had suggested, she got more and more antsy and restless.

He was well aware that it was her who had placed a book, a short novel, on his desk, putting a post it on the cover saying _READ THIS!_

Emily Gilmore did not use post its.

She told you in the face what she thought, she was feisty, direct, she was witty… she was what his mother had called obnoxious and pert, and if Trix would have known what a hooligan was, she would have used that term.

He had fallen for her the second he had seen her, and even though he tried to do the right thing… the right thing to marry Pennilyn Lott, to not break the promise he gave her...

Doing the right thing never felt so wrong, and for the biggest part of his life he was more than perfectly fine with the decision he made back then.

“Emily, for heaven’s sake, stop fussing about my bow tie, I don’t think Luke or Lorelai will actually pay much attention!”

He caught her hands that were almost strangling him, while trying to tie that stupid thing. He was smiling at her, and regretting the last months at the same time. He had given up too easily, actually, this time he had not even tried to fight.

He was tired of the ever present conflict between his wife and his daughter. This conflict was fueled by both sides, both women so stubborn… He had just stepped back this time, turned to his work, hid in a guest room. He had not gotten around to reading said short novel yet, and she had never asked him about it. They were not as far apart spatially as when he had moved into the pool house.

Still, back then they had talked to each other, and finally not found their way together. This time, they were living around each other, and the post it made him realize that it was killing him. It had always annoyed him when she was talking about her planning functions, hosting fundraisers, and attending tea parties.

Now he realized that he missed her voice when they were sitting at the huge table in the dining room.

She looked at him now, her hazel eyes capturing his.

_READ THIS!_

He had smiled at the note, because even though it was not like her to use paper notes, he envisioned her voice telling him exactly that. She was always good at giving orders, demanding things, organizing everything with a view to details he would have never thought of (and most other men also wouldn’t, he was positive about that), but that were quite important in the end. She always was going at things with a determination and a strive he admired, something that Lorelai had inherited.

She was still looking at him, her fingers entwining with his.

“What, if…” she started, and then averted her eyes.

“Apologizing to Rory was so easy. I have been thinking for three days now what to say to Lorelai and Luke, eventually, and my mind is just blank.”

Richard kissed his wife’s fingers and received a confused glance in return.

“You will find a way. You have to find a way, Emily. In fact, _we_ have to. We missed out the entire childhood of Rory. I want to be there for first smiles, first steps, first bleeding knees this time. Both of us need to stop trying to take over their lives.”

“Sooo… no talking about franchising the diner, turning the dragonfly into a Spa, no complaining about Rory’s hoodlum and mentioning how she would be better off with a Huntzberger?”

Richard snorted.

“You spent a large part of Tuesday evening ranting about how he put you down. And then you told me every detail down to the movement of each finger how he and Rory interacted. She has never been at ease like this with any of her other boyfriends. She was always shy to show any affection with us around, be it that high school sweetheart that gave her a car, or Logan Huntzberger, of whom we found out more or less by chance that he was her… boyfriend.”

He still had a problem with that – after what Mitchum Huntzberger had done to his treasured granddaughter, he did not want _THIS_ hoodlum anywhere close to her.

He let go off Emily’s hands and turned to the mirror, investigating what she had done to the tie. Of course it was perfectly tied.

“I think you like Jess, even though you don’t want to”, he then stated, making her gasp.

“Well… he does not like me, so…” she trailed off.

“Why, Emily, has something like that ever stopped you? That boy was the one who set things in motion. Without him you would not even have been in New Haven to set things right with Rory. We still wouldn’t be talking. Give him some credit, will you?”

Emily made a noise that did not sound convinced. She still had ambivalent feelings, most of them telling her that he was not good enough. But he had a way of getting through to her. It made her feel miserable, yet, being the person she was, it also made her want to change things.

She was scared of this evening, yet, somehow eager.

Taking a deep breath, she winked at her husband.

“Gilmore, you take more time than every girl I know to get ready. Let’s go, shall we?”

Richard chuckled silently as he extended his arm to her.


	42. Coffee is a language in itself

Richard saw Rory’s Prius pull up right before Luke’s Diner and decided to park the Jaguar right behind it. When he and Emily left the car, their granddaughter was just opening the trunk, muttering to herself and oblivious to her grandparents right behind her.

She actually jumped a little, when Richard said “Hello, Rory”, a head of lettuce escaping the crate she was trying to extract from said trunk. She simultaneously tried to greet her grandfather and pick up the lettuce, resulting in a rather awkward movement that had her struggling to keep even more lettuce from falling.

Richard frowned at his wife and then made his way to the car, taking the crate out of her hands and throwing a look into the trunk.

“This is a lot of lettuce”, he then dryly stated.

Emily by now had picked up the head that had gone AWOL and put it on Richard’s crate, only to spot another one in the trunk.

“You and your mother usually frown upon every piece of leaf vegetable…”

“Well… basically, it’s for Luke. Since Taylor had to move the Soda Shoppe, he more or less 86-ed Luke, Mom and me from Doose’s. Luke was running out of it, and since we’re closing the Diner next week for moving, it was not worth it to place a big order, and I somehow ended up offering to get some in Woodbridge.”

Both Richard and Emily had a look at the house next to the Diner. Indeed, the sign announcing the old-fashioned Soda Shop was gone. Big reconstructions obviously had taken place on the outside, the shop windows were gone, too.

“Moving?”

Rory made a strained noise while extracting the second box from her trunk and setting it down on the edge, and threw a baneful look at the supermarket across the street. Taylor had put up whatever he could come up with to keep Luke and Lorelai from remodeling the house. His contract with Luke had expired, and once the town elders had stepped in and put him in his place, there was not much he could do. Especially since more or less the rest of the town were taking the other side, threatening to buy all their supplies at the Walmart where Jess had worked just to annoy the town selectman.

So he had banned the Gilmore-Danes family from his supermarket in order to keep his customers. He had also tried to ban Jess from the entire town, which had resulted in yet another epic fight with Luke at a town meeting (and a similarly epic laughing fit by Jess who was accused to drug Lorelai and plan to steal her babies to sell them off to some wealthy strangers he knew in Philadelphia).

Once this had been settled, things went fast. Tom and his crew remodeled the façade and interior in a time that would have the guys from the home edition of extreme makeover blush, hide, and cry in shame. To be honest, she thought he even gave Luke and her Mom a rather large discount just to really bug Taylor.

“Oh… well, Luke owns this building, and he and Mom just need something bigger than the Crap Shack with Sid and Nancy, Paul Anka, and April.”

Rory winced when she realized that she had put her mother’s dog before Luke’s daughter. April had been thrilled to bits when Luke asked her if she wanted a room in the house that was her room, not just a guest room.

“This is nice”, Richard announced, shifting the box in his hands that was starting to be heavier than he thought lettuce could be.

“I guess I should take this inside”, he then declared, and turned to step up the stairs to the Diner. Luke had spotted them before and was now opening the door, before rushing back to his stove and a hyperventilating Cesar who was going bananas over French toast with bacon – as if he never had made that before for Rory.

Emily threw a wary look at the entrance door. She so did not want to go in there…

“Sooo… does she sell the old house or rent it out?” the elder Gilmore asked and wondered why her granddaughter was blushing at this question. Little did she know that the _hooligan boyfriend_ had been very explicit about what he and Rory were going to do in each and every room once they were done remodeling the Crap Shack to their liking.

“She… actually gave it to Jess and me as a birthday present. Jess almost cried, but don’t tell him I saw it”, she smirked, watching her Grandmother carefully. She would tell her she was too young, she was too good, she had a big career ahead of her and this was just tethering her down, and why the hell was she moving in with that hoodlum after only a few months of being back together?!

Indeed, all of this coursed through Emily’s head, yet, there was one thing that was more important than that.

“Are you happy?” Emily asked and was glad that she asked this of all questions when Rory’s face lit up.

“More than I ever thought I could be, and he still did not even give me that damn ring!” she exclaimed, making her Grandmother laugh.

Shifting the box in her hands, Rory managed to lift it from the edge of her trunk.

“Uh… Grandma, would you mind giving me a hand? That’s really heavy…”

 

***

 

Luke held the door to the storage room open for Richard who insisted on just putting the crate there because he already had it.

Hearing the doorbell, he turned his head to see Rory and Emily enter with the second crate and rushed over to take it out of their hands.

He was gone before either of the two women could say hello, so Emily took the time to look at the Diner.

“That big window is gone”, she then stated, having Rory smile.

“I don’t think Mom would like having customers of the Diner being able to see into their living room.”

“Nobody would like that. I still don’t know why I let Taylor get away with it. The only fun I ever had with it was throwing the pan at Taylor through the window”, Luke stated when he and Richard were reappearing from the store room.

“Thank you for running to the store”, he then addressed his step-daughter.

“No big deal. Where’s Jess? I thought he wanted to hang out here to not be bugged by Mom again about the lock-picking topic?” Rory smiled.

Luke actually growled.

“TJ appeared with Doula, blabbing something about wanting to put the fireplace in their house to a good use and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, adding a _You know what I mean_. Now I don’t know if in his special little world this means what I thought it meant, but it made me wanna puke, and Jess darted off with the kid before TJ could start again on how easy it is to be a parent, and why he doesn’t understand how everybody is making such a fuss about it.”

Rory sighed. They had dropped off Doula only two hours before… she really needed to have this talk with Jess soon.

“This is TJ for you. I think in his world it actually makes sense. Would you mind if I gave Grandpa a tour of the house while you and Grandma talk?” she then asked and got a “Sure, why not” as answer.

Richard moved around the counter to join his granddaughter for some stairs that were hidden behind a curtain, and Emily could hear her voice fading as she started to explain how upstairs was an office-turned-apartment-turned-office-again office that was actually reachable from both the Diner and the main house.

Emily and Luke just looked at each other, neither of them really knowing how to start.

 

***

 

After a few seconds, Luke took off his baseball cap and ran a hand through his hair. Then he motioned for the barstools at to counter.

“Please, have a seat.”

He turned around for the coffee machine while Emily indeed did sit down (and felt incredibly stupid and misplaced on a barstool).

Pouring her a cup, Luke frantically asked himself what he was doing. He didn’t even know if she drank coffee, let alone at a time where _normal_ people (which meant more or less everybody but Lorelai and Rory) where not having coffee anymore.

Rolling his eyes at himself, he decided that either she would tell him it was too late for coffee, or she would just drink it and not sleep. Or, heaven forbid, Lorelai had inherited this weird _I live on caffeine_ lifestyle from her mother.

Setting the mug down in front of Emily Gilmore, he realized that he did not know anything about his mother-in-law, well, except that the was rich, snobby, and not too fond of him or his plans for the future.

Her fingers closed around the mug, dragging it towards her the second it had hit the counter. She made not a big show on inhaling the scent as Lorelai did (and she did it every day, because up to now she managed to keep her promise and not drink it), but she did smell the coffee, and he thought a small smile crept around the corners of her mouth.

“Thank you.”

He laughed silently, getting a confused look.

“At least you are not yelling at me this time”, he stated, having her avert her eyes in embarrassment.

“That was not one of my most glorious hours”, she replied.

“It’s long forgotten”, Luke said, this time receiving an even more confused glance.

“See… you will be the only Grandmother my children will have, so I am definitely willing to include you into our life. I will not tolerate you taking it over, though. I like my Diner the way it is. I don’t want a McDonald-eske franchise, I like it as it is. The hardware-store my father owned turned into a business I like and I care about.”

“Also not one of my best moments with you”, Emily silently admitted. Luke had just said the same thing Richard had stated before. Don’t try to take over their lives. She and Luke did not have any good moments together.

Just as Luke was about to continue his speech on being condescending and belittling his every achievement, the woman in front of him locked her gaze with his.

“I am sorry.”

His gaze did not waver.

“I am sorry”, Emily repeated silently. “That I never tried to really get to know you. That I hurt you and Lorelai. That I missed the wedding… the way I behaved…”

Luke cut her off.

“I got the I’m sorry part, you are here voluntarily, after all. You and Richard are family, and I am glad that we are trying to set things right before Sid and Nancy are born. We love our life the way it is, though. We built it this way. No need to improve it, ok?”

Emily nodded a quiet ok.

A shriek from the kitchen made Luke break eye contact, and after he heard something clatter, he darted into the other room, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts.

This apology felt… good, but somehow something was missing, or just not complete, yet. Instead of wanting to increase his business, she and Richard should have found out rather, why he had opened a Diner. She and her husband had rather talked money than get to know the person who was dating their daughter.

Smelling her coffee again and deciding it was just the right temperature, she took a sip.

This was one thing that definitely had to change. They had to start looking at the person, and not the business and bank account behind it.

Cocking her head, Emily smiled after she had tasted the hot beverage.

Lorelai was right.

This was really good coffee.

And actually, it also was a good start.


	43. Women and cats will do as they please…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> … and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea (Robert A. Heinlein, 1907-1988).

A soft smile played around Rory’s mouth as she parked her car in front of her mother’s house. Lately, it was a bit crowded on the driveway, with her Lorelai’s Jeep and Jess’ car right behind it. Luke had the truck parked on the road most of the time, so she could also leave the Prius in the driveway.

Maybe they should just clean out the garage, to actually park a car in there. Actually, this had to go on her to do list once they had moved all of her Mom’s and Luke’s stuff to their new house.

Already on the way from the Diner to her car she had to fight the urge to skip. First of all, because this time, she had picked the right date while Jess had opted to stay out of the entire bet.

Secondly, she and her Grandfather had spent more time than she actually intended visiting the house. The rooms were still more or less empty except the few boxes they already brought over, and smelled of fresh paint, but she could picture her mother and her family living there already now.

And then, when coming back to the Diner, she witnessed her Grandmother asking Luke for a refill, sitting on a barstool and trying to weasel out the brand of coffee beans he was using.

Luke sent Rory an exasperated look that was normally reserved for his wife and her crazy ideas.

The youngest Gilmore girl just sent back a smile and shrugged. It was better than her yelling at him, wasn’t it?

Richard stopped right behind Luke and walked around the Jaguar to open the door for his wife, while Rory made her way to the truck and helped Luke carrying the bags with their food.

“You know that Jess most probably cooked?”

“I know that Lorelai has been pestering _me_ about learning how to pick locks for the past days until I promised to show her how to break down a door…”

Rory gave him a shocked look while they headed for the main entrance.

“You know how to break down a door?!”

Luke stoically cradled his bags with the food.

“No, I don’t. My hopes are on Jess finally giving in…”

Rory laughed as she carefully opened the front door and peeked inside. Of course Ernest had heard them and was sitting right there graciously with his tail neatly placed over his fore paws, his big green eyes focused on her.

“Hi Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, did you miss me? Did you scare Paul Anka again?”

Luke rolled his eyes at her high pitched voice while Richard and Emily shared a confused look.

The cat on the other hand watched the young woman getting down to his eye level for another second before standing up and meowing his answer while enthusiastically rubbing around her leg once and then throwing her a look over his shoulder that said “ _Feed me_.”

“Oh, you are always sooooo subtle, Ernest, you really live up to your name”, she cooed, petting his head and getting another “ _Meow!!!”_ as answer.

“Come on, let’s go to the kitchen!”

The cat darted off without needing further encouragement, with Rory on his heels.

Richard and Emily threw Luke another confused look and he just sighed.

“Ernest came with Jess from Philadelphia… hopped into the car and kept quiet until he arrived here. He’s driving that whacko dog up the walls since then and enjoys every second of it”, he explained while motioning for the elder Gilmores to enter the house.

Emily timidly walked further into the living room, where her daughter was seated on the couch. Or, to be more precise, was practically sitting on the lap of the young man next to her.

“And now you push this up… and tell Nancy to not always kick me in the side!” Jess told Lorelai as he showed her how to hold the picking instruments.

Lorelai stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, caught in sheer concentration as she tried to feel what exactly she had to push upwards.

“She’s just excited”, she murmured, her fingers following his instructions.

“Can I turn it now?”

“How should I know? You’re picking it! Just try.”

Both fell silent again, until Lorelai suddenly yelped a “Ha!!!” as the padlock in her hands sprang open.

“I wanna do it again! Can I do it again?!”

Jess snorted and rolled his eyes, snatching the lock out of her hands and closed it.

Lorelai just looked at his hands.

“This pregnancy is turning me into Homer Simpson…” she sighed, getting another snort from Jess as he put the padlock on the table and eased himself up from the couch.

“I’ll take care that Rory doesn’t feed your burger to Ernest”, he smiled, turning around to head for the kitchen and was slightly surprised by the three people standing behind them, Luke still rolling his eyes, Richard and Emily just staring at them in disbelief. It did not happen often that somebody walked in on him and he did not realize it. He heard Rory and had assumed Luke was with her.

“Hi.”

Emily grabbed Richard’s hand while she was scrutinized by the young man. Luke just sighed.

“So you finally gave in, thank god. Dinner will be ready soon”, the Diner man said and then headed for the kitchen, where Rory in the meantime had begun a conversation with the cat as she was preparing his food, and tried to bribe Paul Anka out from under the kitchen table at the same time.

When Jess walked around the couch and did not directly turn to the kitchen to fulfil his promise and save her burger from his tomcat’s appetite, Lorelai’s glance was following him, finally spotting her parents standing at the entrance door. Or better, nailed to the floor there, holding hands and not knowing how to approach her.

She was not surprised that they came. After all, Emily already had made an effort to set things straight with her granddaughter. However, Lorelai had not the slightest clue how this evening would end (and this time she also did not have the option to turn to alcohol in case it turned out bad). She had no clue what kind of apology her mother would present, and if she would accept it even if it was a lame one, just because she wanted her mother to be a part of her babies’ lives.

Easing herself up from the couch she almost laughed as she saw her father’s eyes go wide. The last time he had seen her had been at Rory’s birthday party – there had been phone calls, but he had missed out on how much her belly grew in the last two months.

She never thought she would hear the word “Wow” out of Richard Gilmore’s mouth, and it was even harder to keep the chuckle down.

“Yah, I know, objects already start to gather in an orbit around me, I think my first moon will be the monkey lamp”, she joked pointing at the lamp as her father let go of Emily’s hand and walked up to the couch to greet Lorelai.

Kissing her cheek he said: “You look absolutely stunning, Lorelai, with or without moon. I hope the back spasms are under control now, though?”

Emily watched how her daughter smiled at her father and answered that she was fine as long as she did not stand the entire day, and felt a pang of guilt when he mentioned her health. He had obviously known about it, and after her crying fit with the ultrasound pictures, he had not dared to tell her about it.

“Emily.”

Jess’ soft voice made her look up, realizing that she had zoned out.

“Give me your coat. And tell her what you told me. The entire story. She will understand.”

She scrutinized the young man in front of her as she handed him her jacket. How could he be so sure about that? She opened her mouth to ask exactly this, but he maneuvered around her, hanging her coat on the hat stand in the foyer, and then taking the direct route towards the kitchen while addressing her husband.

“Mr. Gilmore, a beer for you? Luke, you also want one?”

With that he disappeared in the kitchen, throwing a funny look at his girlfriend who had crawled under the kitchen table to also feed the ailurophobic Paul Anka. Looking for Ernest he spotted the cat next to Luke, completely oblivious to the fact that the dog was even in the same room, ignoring the cat food, and making _I-am-starving-to-death-right-now_ eyes at the Diner man who was preparing burger patties and threw nervous side glances at the cat as if it might turn into a tiger any minute, chewing on both burger patties and his arm.

Richard glanced from Lorelai to his wife and back and decided that indeed, he wanted a beer. And he wanted to give them enough privacy to finally talk.

While also the elder Gilmore frowned at his granddaughter under the kitchen table, Emily and Lorelai still stood at their spots in the living room, not knowing how to start a conversation.

Lorelai finally cleared her throat.

“I… I’m glad you came”, she then leaped in.

After all, she had missed her mother.

Even though Emily Gilmore had been disappointed and had tried to hide Lorelai’s pregnancy with Rory back then, there had been moments when her mother had been caring, and sweet, and helpful. For example, when the first stretch marks had appeared and Lorelai hid herself in her room, crying.

Or when she was terrified beyond belief when she experienced her first Braxton Hicks contractions. Emily had been there when she had felt Rory’s first movements and did not know what to make out of it. She had been there when they were strong enough for someone outside her belly to feel it.

She had been there when all her friends from school had turned their backs on her. Not that she cared much, she did not have many friends at school, anyway… but at least she did not feel completely alone, even though her mother was not an easy person.

“I am glad you are not throwing me right back out”, Emily answered, getting a little smirk as answer.

“You cost me 20 Dollars, though”, Lorelai stated and Emily just stared at her. She was not surprised that Lorelai would bet on her. Yet…

“Has that impertinent hoodlum bet pools on everything?!” she exclaimed, and this time, Lorelai laughed.

“Oh no, Mom, it was your granddaughter who started the bets. For some reason, Jess didn’t bet on the date you would come here, though…”

Stepping closer towards her daughter, Emily threw a side glance into the kitchen, where she could hear bottles being opened and laughter from the three men as Lorelai’s fuzzy dog darted out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs.

“What is Rory doing under the kitchen table?” she asked distracted.

“Well, Ernest made pretty clear that he is the Alpha dog here, I guess she tried to feed Paul Anka. Why wouldn’t Jess bet on the date, Mom?” Lorelai asked, immediately gaining her mother’s attention back.

Closing the distance towards the couch, Emily took a deep breath.

“Because he knew I was coming.”

Motioning for the couch, Emily resisted the urge to extend her hand and caress over Lorelai’s belly. She still remembered how her 16-year old daughter came bursting into her living room, grabbing her hand and telling her _“Wait for it!”_ when she had asked why for heaven’s sake she was putting said hand on her belly. Rory had kicked only seconds later and Emily had been rendered speechless, the love for her grandchild once more forcefully rearing its head.

“Sit down, Lorelai. I need to tell you something.”


	44. If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Timothy B. Tyson)

Lorelai sat down as her mother had asked her to and was watching the other woman expectantly. Emily took a seat next to her, watching her hands. How should she start? How on earth should she start telling her story? Good Lord, that was why she always offered something alcoholic to drink when she knew conversations would not start easily or there would be a dense atmosphere when they were having guests...

“I was four when I learned how to mix a bloody Mary”, she said, getting a confused look from her daughter.

“By the time I was six I was able to mix every drink consisting of two or more ingredients to my mother’s approval.”

Emily lifted her gaze and looked at Lorelai who was still frowning at her.

“Around that time I also learned that not every mother was drinking alcoholic beverages already for breakfast, still, I was trying so hard to earn her love that I put up with the moods, the hangovers, the endless fights with my father, how she worshipped my little sister, how she despised me...”

Lorelai reached out for Emily as her eyes started to water.

“Mom…?”

“You never knew my parents, your grandparents, both of them died young. My mother had me when she was 16. She married my father, and I think he actually loved me as much as he loved Hope, he just did not always know how to show it. Mother… by the time I was six she was constantly drunk, and complaining to my face how I ruined her life, how she had plans and dreams that all went to hell because of me…”

A small tear escaped, running down Emily’s cheek, and Lorelai started an “Oh, Mom…”, but was interrupted, because Emily had more to say.

“People started talking… my father buried himself in work, my mother drowned herself in bourbon. And if there had not been a cook, a nanny and a maid, I would have starved, not have been clothed, and the house would have been a landfill. Still, people started talking… My grandmother moved in with us when she had lost her husband, and it got even worse… I think she despised me even more than my mother did. After all, because of me her son had to get married at 16.”

“But none of this was your fault, Mom.”

“I knew that later. For a six year old child it sounded like all of this was my fault. I know now that our worlds collide and clash every time because we value different things, and I am sorry that I never made an effort to see things your way…”

“Well… I was so busy rebelling against everything you deemed important that I never asked what was behind it…”

When Emily threw her an astonished look, Lorelai sighed.

“Mom, I am well aware that our problem is not one sided. I did my fair share to contribute to everything that drove us apart… I… sometimes I just did not know how to cope with you, you were everywhere, you wanted to know everything, control everything, and nothing I ever did was good enough…”

Emily lowered her gaze… she had a lot more of explaining to do.

 

***

 

The three men in the kitchen were still laughing at how Paul Anka got scared by Ernest just looking at him. Luke had finally caved and dropped a bit of a burger patty, only to have the cat gratefully rub against his leg and spotting the dog while doing so. Sitting down, Ernest started the staring contest that the dog ended with his hasty escape.

Rory crawled out from under the table and walked up to them, snuggling against Jess’ side, her hands closing around his waist and her head resting against his shoulder.

“Have you and Grandpa met before?” she asked, making both Richard and Jess frown. They had met at the wedding, and at Rory’s birthday, yet…

“I believe we have not been introduced to each other officially”, Richard stated, putting his beer down on the kitchen counter and extending his hand.

“Richard Gilmore”, he said as Jess shook it and snorted amusedly.

“Jess Mariano”, he answered, looking up to this tall, tall, intimidating man with the bow tie who was sending him a kind smile.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. Emily has been praising you the past few days”, Richard said. Somehow that young man’s name rang a bell, he just could not quite place it.

“I’m not quite sure if sentences including impertinent, hooligan, or clochard are praises”, Jess smirked, making Richard laugh.

“If Emily is ranting about someone like this, it is, my young friend, it is”, Richard said at the same time as Rory was poking her boyfriend’s chest, telling him that her grandmother had never called him a landloper.

“She must love me then”, Luke grouched and tried to shoo Ernest down from the counter. That damn cat was even more into burgers than his wife and step-daughter, but at least those two did not walk around on the kitchen furniture to grab a bite.

 

***

 

Emily and Lorelai looked up when they heard a loud clattering sound in the kitchen and Luke yelling “Aw, jeez!” Ernest darted out of the kitchen, obviously too scared by the noise to keep up his cool attire but rather acting cat-like.

Both women frowned at the cat running up the stairs.

“Isn’t your dog afraid of him?” Emily asked, and Lorelai nodded.

“Yes, but Paul Anka is hiding in the bathroom, and Ernest is sleeping on my old bed in my old bedroom, so I guess he just went there…”

Now Emily frowned even more.

“And Rory and Jess don’t mind having the cat in there?”

“Why should they? They are staying in Rory’s bedroom.”

Emily opened her mouth to counter why on earth a cat should be allowed to claim an entire room. She decided against it, knowing that already Lorelai’s dog was having the weirdest quirks and instead of having the animal trained, Lorelai just loved the quirks.

“Though I think Jess once told me that Ernest was sleeping in a bed with him in Philadelphia, so I guess they would not mind”, the other woman mused, throwing a glance at the kitchen door where Jess had just grabbed her daughter’s hand and was dragging her towards the foyer where they were putting on their winter clothes and left the house.

“I guess Ernest just destroyed our dinner”, Lorelai sighed.

Emily was still musing.

“I wouldn’t have pictured Jess as a cat-person. When I first met him, I could picture him with a Pitbull or a Rottweiler”, she then said and Lorelai started to laugh. Little did her mother know that Jess of all people was afraid of dogs thanks to his mother’s various boyfriends with a liking for the aggressive form of attack dogs. Thank god Paul Anka was too neurotic to go anywhere near him.

“Ernest was an estray, living somewhere around the Truncheon in Philly. Jess and his friends coddled him up…”

“And he hopped in Jess’ car and kept silent until he arrived here”, Emily finished the story. “Luke already told us. You know a lot about this young man.”

Lorelai was scratching the back of her head. Yah, she knew a lot. And most of what she knew Emily would disapprove of or not like.

“He had a rough time as a kid, and in my opinion his mother should have sent him here earlier. It would have spared him a lot. It would have spared us a lot… as much as Rory might want to deny it, she never was over him. Once he reappeared in her life, it was just a matter of time until those two were drawn to each other again.”

Emily sighed. “She left a Huntzberger. I read his book, and he is a gifted writer. I see how they are with each other… still…”

“You’d rather have Rory in a relationship with the real-life impersonation of Sebastian Valmont before he fell in love with Anette?” Lorelai interrupted her mother, annoyed that she _once more_ dug out Logan. Then she realized that she should not quote movies with her mother, she most probably would not even know what she was talking about…

“ _Cruel intentions_? Oh, Lorelai, please don’t be so melodramatic. If he was that bad, why did you not stop her from being with him?” Emily questioned while telling herself at the same time that this conversation was taking the wrong turn here. She did not come here to argue with Lorelai!

“You know that movie??!” was all Lorelai wanted to answer, also trying to spare them another argument. The “And it’s not like he’s a serial rapist and mass murderer, so I let her make that mistake”, came out without her actually wanting it.

Then the younger woman sighed. “See, Mom… the more I would have told her it was a bad idea, the more interesting Logan would have been. I have been there with her Jess-phase during High school, and instead of getting to know him back then, I despised him and was angry, and Rory wanted to be with him anyway…”

“Don’t tell me you did not think it was a mistake when Rory and Jess got back together”, Emily said, and Lorelai hesitated.

Yes. Yes, she thought it was a mistake. Especially after how they got back together. A roll in the hay after Luke’s and her wedding, with Rory still being with Logan (who was so drunk that they had Kirk on watch almost the entire wedding that he did not fall into the lake and drown).

But she had also seen how her daughter, who had been only a shadow of herself when she had quit Yale, and was still not back to herself after getting back, was flourishing within days after the decision to dump the Huntzberger heir. After learning that she actually had seen Jess twice before her accident at the Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai decided that this time, she would make the effort if he let her.

And she had not regretted it.

“You did”, Emily stated when Lorelai did not say anything.

“Mom…”

“You did”, Emily repeated, and then took a deep breath.

“I would have made sure she would never see him again”, she then stated, and when Lorelai started to answer, ready to fight for her daughter’s boyfriend, Emily added: “It would have been a big mistake.”

“How…?”

“This young man… this impertinent… obnoxious… wonderful boy. If it was not for him (and whoever played destiny when they ran into each other in the mall), I would not be here.”

Reaching out for her daughter’s hands, Emily took a deep breath.

“I know that I can be exhausting. My mother did not care about anything concerning etiquette or table manners, sometimes I was really ashamed how she behaved, in public or just around us. So I made sure you had perfect table manners. I was everywhere and I wanted to know everything, because nobody ever really cared about what I did. I controlled everything because I wanted to make sure you did not get hurt… and after you confessed that you were pregnant with Rory, I wanted to make sure she did not end up…”

“… like you…”, Lorelai finished her sentence, squeezing her mother’s hands. It made sense. Finally, something in her mother’s behavior started to make sense. Yet…

“You were there, Mom. You witnessed how I was before giving birth, and when I finally had my baby girl. Why would you even think I would treat her like your mother treated you?”

Emily averted her gaze.

“I don’t know… What I do know is that I drove you away. I want to see my grandchildren grow up. I want see them on more occasions than just big holidays. I don’t want to blackmail you into weekly dinners to be part of your family.”

“I want you to be there. I just don’t want you to hijack our lives. Don’t stress yourself out trying to organize our lives. Luke and I, we love it as it is. No…”

“No need to improve it. That’s what your husband already told me”, Emily finished her sentence.

“He’s a smart guy, isn’t he?” Lorelai smirked, making her mother smile.

 


	45. Can you smell the snow?

They walked through Stars Hollow, fingers entwined. She remembered the times back then, when they were still in High school… most of the times, he had his arm around her shoulders, and yes, it maybe looked cool, but she never had liked it, because while he was touching her, he was also taking care that she was not touching him this way.

Wearing a soft smile while squeezing his warm fingers she let her gaze wander. In a few days, Taylor would start to have the Christmas decorations put in place and the town would look magical at this hour. Resting her head on Jess’ shoulder as they marched on towards the Diner, she just could not help but smile. It would be so romantic going for a walk by then…

“You are incredibly cuddly today”, Jess stated, tugging both of their hands into the pocket of his coat.

“It’s cold”, Rory said, expecting an amused snort, maybe some remark. When Jess did not respond, she added a “I hope it’s snowing soon, though.”

“It smells like snow”, Jess said, his tone still demure, and then almost lost his balance when his girlfriend stopped walking.

“Huh?”

“And I thought I could escape this insanity this year – Mom smells all kinds of weird things lately with the pregnancy nose, but at least she did not bring up smelling snow.”

Jess just frowned. “It does, though”, he shrugged, his gaze never really leaving the pavement.

“You are awfully quiet today”, Rory stated after a while. He had never been a chatty person, but lately at least he was talking in sentences rather than being monosyllabic.

His fingers squeezed hers, however, he did not say anything.

“Jess… what’s wrong? You have trouble with the guys? Is Chris still pissed that Ernest decided to move to Stars Hollow without him? Or…  is Matt still mad at me?”

She had had a hard time with his co-worker, once he found out that the girl from the open house who was the reason for Jess getting hammered and then hung over for nearly two days, who made his friend swear to stay away from the other gender for the rest of his life and turning into a lifeless workaholic the next few months, had resurfaced again and was _the girlfriend_ now.

There had been curses, there had been looks, he even gave her the _If you hurt him again_ talk, and if she had not been that busy defending herself, after all, she and Jess _had_ a history that this guy did not know anything about, she would have laughed actually at his protectiveness.

“Nah… well, yeah, Chris is still angry. I told him to tame one of the other strays that he keeps feeding in the backyard… And you and Matt have this weird armistice…”, Jess answered, tugging his other hand into his coat.

“Jehess…”, Rory wailed, making him sigh.

“It’s Doula, ok? TJ took her back to the Diner only two hours after we brought her back to them. After having her for an entire week, without either of her parents ever checking on her. I need to talk to Liz, that she cannot have everyone else but her and her husband take care of the kid. But every time I start thinking about what to say I get so angry that I decide against going there…”

Rory kept her head against his shoulder, squeezing his hand again. Normally, he was the calmest person she knew, dealing with whatever was thrown at him with sarcasm, cynicism, or ignorance. Where Luke or herself would have been freaking (okay, both of them briefly had freaked) at Lorelai’s first major back spasm that had her grabbing the kitchen counter, immobilized, panicked and breathless by pain, he had called an ambulance and talked to her, asking if she remembered being in labor and if it was like that.

When Luke came storming in from the Diner only minutes later after he got the call, Lorelai was just as calm as his nephew, telling him that it was _just_ back spasms, while Jess was busy talking Rory out of speeding to Stars Hollow.

“I could join you”, she offered. She knew close to nothing about Liz, and what she knew actually did not help to want to get to know her better. However, she was her boyfriend’s and Doula’s mother, and she cared about both of them. Most probably Jess would turn down her offer, so she prepared already to give him a convincing rant.

When he said nothing, she turned her head to glance up at him. “I could join you”, she repeated, noting a faint nod and another squeeze of her hand, making her feel weirdly flattered. While he did not exactly discuss things with her, he _was_ talking about and including her into issues that bothered him.

“Liz and TJ will drive both of us up the wall”, Jess sighed and turned to watch her when she lifted her head from his shoulder.

“Why don’t you ever call her Mom?” she asked. He even called Luke _Uncle Luke_ , and even though the older man had cringed at the very beginning, when it was still a snide remark about _Yeah, you are family but I don’t trust you and I don’t really care_ during High school times, both men had somehow gotten used to this. Even Lorelai called Emily Mom.

“She lost that title when I was 8 years old, bleeding onto the living room floor because the husband of the week let out his rage on me, and all she did was complain that the stains in the carpet would be permanent, and it was all my fault.”

Rory let go off his hand and slid both of her arms around his waist just like before in the kitchen, her head leaning on his shoulder again. They really had to do something about Doula. Another kid raised in this loveless environment – this would not happen I f she had any say in that.

“We can share my Mom. She’s enough for the two of us and Sid and Nancy.”

He had to laugh at that.

“You know, it feels kind of weird and slightly incestuous sharing your mother when I’m actually sleeping with you!”

That got him a swat to his chest, and some more with each “Eew!!” she was exclaiming, both of them stopping in front of a dark shop as he caught her hands, kissing her to shut her up.

When they separated, they realized where exactly they were standing.

“It makes me sad to see it this dark and lifeless”, Rory whispered. Andrew’s bookstore had been closed, ever since the accident. Jess’ arm went around her, while he was eyeing the dark windows. If you tried really hard, you could see the shelves in there. Whoever had inherited the building had not done anything about it in the past months.

“We should get going, otherwise Mom will call and complain about us starving her”, Rory whispered after a while, blinking away a snowflake. And another one… and…

“Oh. You were right!” she exclaimed, making Jess laugh again.

“I told you…” This time, he was silenced by a kiss.

“Everything is magical when it snows”, Rory quoted, kissing him again, her arms going around him again, one hand disappearing in the coat pocket where his other hand had been before, easily finding the little square box in there.

“The best things in my life have happened when it snowed”, she whispered, also quoting her mother, but he did not have to know that.

Jess chuckled.

“Is this your subtle way of telling me this is the perfect moment to ask you to marry me?”

“Yes!”

“So…”

“Yes!!!”

“For heaven’s sake, Gilmore, stop being an energizer bunny for once, and let go off the box so I can ask you properly!”

Both were laughing as he pulled out the box.

“Do I have to go down to my knee?”

“Nah, you’ll be wet all over.”

She was biting her lip when he opened the box, showing her the ring she already knew, and doing her best to not exclaim another _YES!_ when he had only said her name, but waited for him to ask properly.


	46. Doomsday

“I told you so”, Lorelai whispered, hugging her daughter close as they watched another fire truck pull up next to the house.

Despite the distance they were keeping, safely guarded behind the ambulance trucks, they could feel the heat radiating from the burning building.

“I told you so”, the older woman whispered in tears.

***

_Earlier that evening._

Jess smirked as Lorelai and Rory dug into their burgers, while he chose to eat only salad with turkey – just to be spared another discussion how he could be so mean and egoistic wanting to eat his own burger and starve _Mommy_.

The thought of how she managed to weasel into his thoughts like this, it actually made him smile – she of all people, his biggest critic, had become his biggest fan somehow, and weirdly enough, that feeling was mutual.

He’d been a bit timid about how to break their big news to Rory’s family. Actually, he had not planned on proposing at all this evening. It just had been this perfect, and it was not like they would get married instantly. It was just another sign for both of them that they belonged together.

When they reached the Crap Shack he realized that Rory did not have any of his apprehensions how her Mom, Luke, or her grandparents would react. No. His brand-new energizer bunny fiancée got restless already on the driveway, almost slipping in the freshly fallen snow and losing their food. She rather ungraciously caught herself, while he was just once more admiring her clumsiness.

She was at the entrance door, ripping it open before he was even done chuckling, squealing loudly: “Mom! Mom, where are you?!” He could hear Lorelai answering: “Kitchen, kiddo, where’s the fire?” and then the front door was smashed shut, leaving him out in front of it, scratching his head, wondering what he got himself into.

When he entered his soon-to-be home, Rory had found her mother, and obviously already dropped the _he finally asked!!!_ bomb, because Lorelai was, despite her obvious handicap, trying to jump up and down with her daughter.

The rest of the people in the kitchen obviously needed more information than _he finally asked_. Well, at least Richard and Luke did, both looking pretty clueless. Jess was surprised to see a genuine smile on Emily’s face as she observed the other two Gilmore girls, oblivious to his presence.

Lorelai, on the other hand, spotted him instantly, as he stood there, unbuttoning his coat with one hand, while clutching their food with the other, and he couldn’t help but smile shyly. She did have a soft spot for him, still, she was the only person who was able to turn this specific moment into a big embarrassment for him, mainly because he knew she was able to come up with an instant speech of what was expected from him now – and would not shy away from giving it, even though her parents were there.

Little did he know how big this soft spot had become over the past few months. When Lorelai had learned about their encounter right after the wedding, she had been furious, both with him and Rory. Jess equaled trouble back then, even though she had seen the changes.

She was nowhere near sad when Rory decided to dump Blondie Huntzberger, because that guy also meant trouble and stole her daughter’s soul, multiple times – Her daughter kept recycling boyfriends, somehow, still, she was hoping Jess was only a rebound by that time.

And then… somehow that boy conquered a place in her heart, not only because Rory became this witty, excitable, happy bookworm person she used to be before Logan made her a high society party girl, and Mitchum Huntzberger broke her. No, he himself weaseled in there, and now, that she knew him and what made him the person he was, she did not want to let him go.

So, to his surprise she just extended a hand, barely giving him the time to put his bag away, before she pulled him into a hug, whispering a “Was about time, you had that thing already for a week!”

He started laughing when he hugged her back and felt two simultaneous kicks against his stomach. “Sid and Nancy also approve, huh?”

“Okay, would anyone care to enlighten the two of us?” Luke piped up, having Richard nod affirmatively.

***

Luke thought they were progressing too fast. He knew that this feeling was weird, after all he was completely okay with the fact that Rory and Jess would move in together. He blamed his rather ambiguous feelings to the fact that his engagement to Lorelai had not turned out that well, so he patted his nephew’s back, turned to prepare their food, and would take his time to wrap his mind around it.

Also Richard did not really know what to think, but for some weird reason, Emily appeared to approve of this liaison, and, curiously enough, she seemed to agree with her daughter. After observing the two young people for a while he came to the conclusion that this would not result in a shotgun wedding, even though it appeared as though they had not put much thought into why they wanted to get engaged right now.

Emily was just observing. Obviously not only Lorelai was after Jess’ food. Rory kept picking the cheese out of his salad. In return, Jess was eating her fries, though. Her eyes rested on Rory’s left hand, how her thumb absentmindedly stroked the yet unfamiliar ring. Time would show what would happen to those two, but in the moment, she was just too happy to have a decent dinner with all of her family that she did not want to overthink anything.

“Have you decided already where you want to put your Calvin Klein poster?”

Jess’ head shot up as he heard Emily of all people ask that question. Did she just wink at him?! Rory next to him choked on her burger, while Lorelai almost spit her water over the table. Luke and Richard were looking at them clueless, once again. Jess decided to stoically smile.

“I guess we won’t have any space for that in the living room, Rory’s and my books will need every inch of shelf-space we can build into this house. But I could try and get a copy for you, if you are that fond of abs”, he joked, and Emily flinched.

“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” she then smiled

“Yup, you did, Mom. Calvin Klein?!” Lorelai asked.

Jess threw Rory a look. “You told your mother everything about last Saturday, and forgot to tell her about the model scout who was tailing us?”

Rory just shrugged. “We still don’t know if he actually was one. But if Grandma wants a picture of your stomach that desperately…”

“Rory!” said Grandma exclaimed, the rest of the people in the room crying with laughter by now.

Babette chose this moment to burst through the back door of the Crap Shack.

She was lifting her hand to silence the people gathered around the kitchen table that were looking at her questioningly now.

She needed to catch her breath, she was too short (and maybe also a bit too heavy) for running. Maybe also a bit too old. Opening her mouth to tell the reason of her hasty entrance she found herself taking another deep, choking breath, lifting her hand for a second time.

Emily and Richard threw her a confused look. Well, the entire party looked at the short Blonde with a frown, only Jess was snorting in amusement.

“Wow, that was fast. Who found out first? I didn’t see anyone. Eastside Tilly? Or Miss Patty?”

“Maybe Taylor saw us. I have a feeling he is stalking you, ever since he has this weird idea of you selling off Mom’s babies”, Rory piped up, her left thumb once more unconsciously caressing the yet unfamiliar band around her ring finger.

Now it was Babette, who was still having a hard time breathing, who was looking at them with a frown.

“What?” she managed to gasp, grabbing for the kitchen counter, taking another ragged breath, by now having all the other people in the room looking at her worriedly.

“Babette, are you okay?” Lorelai asked, but never got an answer, as now also the front door was pushed open, this time Miss Patty flying into the house. Despite her rubenesque figure she was in better shape, after all she was dancing on a daily basis, and thus not out of breath as badly as Babette, who was offered a chair by now by Richard.

Luke growled: “I need to change those locks”, which elicited another amused snort from his nephew.

Patty, however, did not look thrilled, or excited, and somehow Jess started to doubt that they were here because they found out about the engagement.

Patty wore a sad, worried face, but obviously did not know exactly how to break the seemingly bad news to them, her glance wandering from face to face until Luke sighed.

“Okay, where’s the fire?”

Both women gasped at his expression, glancing at each other.

“Uhm…”

“Patty! What’s wrong?!” God, sometimes he really thought there was something in the water, turning the inhabitants of this town into morons.

“Luke, Honey… Jess…” Patty stammered, and actually frowned at herself. Since when was she this bad in delivering a message?

Both men rolled their eyes.

“Your Mom’s house is burning!!! There’s already two fire trucks and ambulances, but I don’t know if…!” Babette exclaimed.

***

It was the women gathered around the kitchen table that reacted first. Luke was staring at Babette in utter shock, needing a few second to process that _your Mom_ equaled _his sister_. Jess just sat there, frozen, his face not really telling what he thought.

Both Lorelai and Rory reached out for their men. Luke already was on the verge of getting up, catching his wife’s hand in the process.

“Do you know if they got out?” he asked, jumping into action and addressing both Babette and Miss Patty.

“Their neighbors called the firefighters, and from what I heard they caught TJ in the garden…”, she trailed off.

“And Liz?!” When nobody answered, he raised his voice. “BABETTE?!”

Babette could not help but shrug. “I don’t know, Honey…”

Luke threw Lorelai a helpless look. “I gotta go there”, he muttered, getting a nod as answer, before he directed his attention to his nephew.

“You coming?”

Jess knew he should say something. His mind, however, kept replaying one scene in one of the not so crappy apartments of New York, where they’d had a fireplace, and his mother had had the glorious idea to roast marshmallows… she never got the deposit back for that place, and kept joking that at least her little boy got to see a real life fire truck. That her little boy had feared burning to death that evening somehow didn’t make it to her mind.

“Jess!”

He jumped as Luke more or less yelled at him. No, he did not want to go there. He also did not want to let his uncle go there alone. With a heavy sigh Jess sent Lorelai a look. “Could you please take care of Doula?” he asked, his hand firmly clutching Rory’s. He did not want to go there alone. A glance from his fiancée when they got up told him, that no way in hell she would let him go there alone.

***

Lorelai got antsy two minutes after Luke, Jess and Rory had left the house. Babette had sat down on the couch to rest a bit, while Patty took a seat at the kitchen table. Nobody really knew what to do or what to say, so Lorelai started cleaning up the kitchen table, even though all she wanted was to run after them and make sure _her_ family was fine, no matter what had happened to Liz and TJ.

When she almost dropped the second plate while cleaning the remainders of their food off it and putting it into the dishwasher, a pair of large hands caught hers, making her look up at Richard. “I can do that, Lorelai…”

So, for the first time ever she witnessed her father doing the dishes, and still all she wished was to run out of her house.

“Lorelai… please, calm down”; Emily addressed her, grabbing her shaking hands as she was trying to figure out if she wanted to sit down again, or just grab her jacket.

Oh, she was trying to. It just did not work.

“I need to be there, Mom… I…”

“Lorelai, please be reasonable. This might harm the twins. They are all grown-ups, they will deal with whatever will come up, they can take care of themselves”, Emily reasoned.

Lorelai knew that. They were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. Still, she was going stir crazy, a tear escaping her cerulean eyes.

Emily watched her, battling with herself, and then turned to her husband.

“Give me the car keys, Richard. And you, grab your jacket and your cell phone, just in case anything is with the baby. I trust that Miss Patty and Babette will stay?” Emily asked both women, who nodded reluctantly. After all, big stuff was going on, and they had nothing to contribute to the gossip mill afterwards. On the other hand, they were in the middle of the drama here, so… hard decision

Emily did not wait for an answer, grabbed the keys out of her shell-shocked husband’s fingers and followed her daughter to the entrance door.

***

“Wow…” Actually, Lorelai had wanted to gasp _Oh my god_ , however, wow described more accurately what she saw. Emily stopped the Jaguar next to the road. The fire was engulfing the entire building, the snowflakes that had fallen down on the windshield turning to rain from the heat radiating from it.

The ambulance trucks were close enough to see that Luke and a paramedic were running after a person. Searching the scene for Jess and Rory she found both of them in front of the second ambulance, talking to another guy in a bright red jacket.

Emily bit her tongue when Lorelai reached for the door handle. Sure as hell she should not go out there. On the other hand, she also wanted to jump out of the car, check on her granddaughter, and figure out what was going on.

So she did not say anything and also left the car, much to the astonishment of her daughter.

“Mom…”

“You have five minutes. Then I will take you back to the house.”

They had almost reached Jess and Rory when the show began.

***

TJ was in shock. Of course one would be after escaping a burning house with not much more than your clothes and second and third degree burns on your arms and hair that melted on your head.

After more or less catatonically accepting the paramedics taking him to the ambulance, he had freaked when he saw the needle of the syringe with the sedative and chose to run.

Liz was more or less in the same condition. Her arms, hands, and parts of her legs were burnt, her hair a mess of melted blonde. One of the firefighters had just cut her wedding band open as her hands were already starting to swell. They had tried to extinguish the fire on their own at first, but it was growing too fast and they barely made it to the entrance door to leave their house. She already made it into the ambulance when she spotted her son and his girlfriend, talking to yet another doctor.

“Oh, my baby boy is here!” she exclaimed, shock making her rather agile for being this injured as she left the gurney and the ambulance.

She was reaching out for Jess, making him yelp in pain as her hand with the cut open wedding band scratched his cheek. He let go of Rory, his hand shooting up to find that the scratch was bleeding.

“Oh, you are visiting me again, that is nice… do you want to see Doula? She’s growing so fast…”

Straightening his form, Jess backed away as she reached out once more.

“Liz, go back into the ambulance. Doula is at our place.”

Liz was just giggling at this, shrugging off the paramedic who was reaching for her.

“She is such a nice baby. She is so much easier to take care of than you were. TJ and me are having marshmallows at the fireplace if you want some… oh, hi Lorelai and woman I don’t know, do you know my Jessie boy?”

She tried to hug him this time and he could smell the alcohol beneath the smell of smoke in her clothes, making him back away again.

Rory walked up to her mother and grandmother, throwing her arms around Lorelai. At least, both had made it out alive… “I told you so”, Lorelai whispered, hugging her daughter close. This was bad. This was really bad. She wanted to reach out and drag that woman away from Jess, take him away from here, because his entire body language screamed that he desperately wanted to be somewhere else.

Rory needed a second, before she figured out what it was that her mother had told her so. Then, after a side glance towards her Grandmother, it hit her. “Oh…”

“You are drunk”, Jess stated. Oh, how he despised her just in this moment. In his memory, she was always drunk, heck, she had even told Luke that, in contrast to when she had Doula, she was more or less constantly drunk and stoned when she had him. He was still wondering how he made it without major brain damage or behavioral dysfunctions.

Liz was still giggling.

“Yap… and stoned… but pst, don’t tell anyone…”

That was when he lost it. He had thought he could cope with her, that maybe a good talk with her would make her realize that she was neglecting her child, but somehow they could fix it. Obviously, her resolutions concerning booze and dope had not lasted long.

“You and your braindead husband just set your house on fire because you’re high!!! What if Doula was here this evening?!” he exclaimed, having her look at him sheepishly.

“What is with Doula?”

Jess was dumbstruck for a second. Just how many brain cells did she not kill lately?

“DOULA COULD HAVE BEEN IN YOUR HOUSE THAT IS CURRENTLY BURNING DOWN?!”

“My house is burning down?!” Liz exclaimed, turning around and ducking away from another attempt of the paramedic to get her back into the truck. “My house is burning down!!”

TJ ran into Jess before he could answer her hysterical outburst.

A tear ran down Lorelai’s cheek, as she felt her mother move closer, grasping her hand that was not hugging Rory. “I told you so”, she whispered again.

***

_Later that night._

When they finally came home, Richard was asleep on the couch, the baby bed right next to him. He had sent Miss Patty home, after all it did not take three people to take care of an infant.

Lorelai gently woke Babette who had dozed off in the armchair and sent her home, as well.

“I think I should wake him… we need to get home”, Emily didn’t even try to hide her yawn, a telltale of just how exhausted she was.

“If you don’t mind that Ernest was sleeping there, you can have the other bed upstairs. I actually don’t want to have you driving around now”, Luke stated. Rory and Jess brushed by them, his nephew sporting a band aid on his cheek and a bandaged hand after TJ had run him over, and disappeared in her room.

“I…” Emily was surprised that she was seriously contemplating the offer.

“If it is a problem, you can have Luke’s and my bed. Mom, there have been enough accidents today, okay?”

Emily watched her daughter. “I am fine with Ernest”, she then said.

***

_Even later that night._

She had woken Richard to make him move from the couch into the bed. The stupid thing was that now both Richard and the cat were snoring.

With a sigh Emily trudged down the stairs to make herself comfy on the couch, wondering why there was light in the kitchen. When she went there to switch it off, she spotted her daughter, seated on a kitchen chair, munching on an apple, her gaze never leaving the open door to Rory’s bedroom.

Emily sat down next to her, her gaze following Lorelai’s.

“You also have midnight cravings for apples?” Lorelai asked, and Emily sighed again.

“No. Richard and that obnoxious cat have decided to outplay each other in who is snoring louder. Why is that door open?”

“Oh, Rory and me had an agreement – she could have whomever she wanted in there, as long as the door was open. Somehow, I made that a rule when she and Jess were still newly together, and somehow, it stuck…”

Both of them were sound asleep… however, most of the time, Jess was wrapped around Rory. The boy was snoring when he was on his back, so they had given up rather soon on Rory’s head against his chest, and resorted to spooning. Today, Jess was more or less rolled into a ball, with Rory’s arms tightly closed around him, her head resting against his back.

“Is Luke alright?” Emily asked, getting a nod from Lorelai.

“After Babette didn’t know if Liz made it out, he freaked a little. But now he’s seen that she’s at least alive, the rest we will have to see.”

“You are worried about Jess, aren’t you”, Emily then stated. This was why she had been so antsy when the men and Rory had just left. Her daughter had briefly looked out for her husband who was chasing this TJ person. Her eyes had not left the younger man, ready to jump his mother if she dared to become a threat.

“He’s been through so much already, and she has been the reason for most of the bad things that happened to him. He made himself the person he is, and he deserves good things to happen. Of course Liz had to ruin this day.”

Emily patted her daughter’s hand, moving up from the kitchen table. Time would tell what would happen. Right now she was just too tired.

“Go and rest, Lorelai. The rest we will see tomorrow…”


	47. Bonding with Emily

Emily woke to a subdued voice and needed a few seconds to process where she was. Right. She had been sleeping on her daughter’s sofa because somehow the world decided to end yesterday.

She smirked about her own thoughts. If the world had ended yesterday, how could she awake today?

Somebody was walking up and down in the kitchen, silently talking.

Running a hand over her face she sat up, and found a furry, grey heap rolled into a ball at her feet. Obviously, Richard had won the snoring contest. Ernest sent her a heavy lidded glance before closing his eyes again, burying his nose between his paws.

She carefully reached out to caress him, cats could be so malicious if they wanted. Ernest, however, started to purr, un-rolling from his ball form to stretch all of his limbs as far as he could, presenting his belly, so she also ruffled his fur there. When her hand reached up to his chest, his fore paws caught her, and he started to lick the back of her fingers.

“You’re a good boy”, she cooed, reaching his throat and chin, what made him lift his head and deepen his purr.

“You look like you know what you’re doing.”

Glancing up she noticed that Jess had been the person walking up and down in the kitchen. He had Doula up against his shoulder and just put the phone back on the table next to the foyer.

“I’m sorry if I woke you. Doula was hungry and I…” He stopped mid-sentence, sighing deeply.

“Did you get any news on your parents? Is everything alright?” Emily watched him, as he stood in the doorway, clothed in some lose joggers and a t-shirt, softly swaying from one side to the other. The baby obviously was already falling asleep again.

Why would the hospital call at this hour in the morning? It was still dark outside, so she guessed it was before 7. If everything was okay, hospitals only called at normal hours. If they did at all.

Jess flinched at the word _parents_. Both of them did not even nearly match the description for that job. Walking over to the baby bed next to the couch he sighed again.

“They put both in an artificial coma for the next few days because of the pain. I will spare you the details what they are doing to save their extremities, because to be honest the description alone made me sick. But they’re positive that they will make it out of the hospital with all arms and legs still in the right place.”

Artificial coma. That meant intensive care… Emily started calculating how long Richard had been there with the heart attack. The burns most probably took longer to heal. And rehabilitation would also take longer… They would be gone for some months.

With her fingers still digging into Ernest’s fur and the cat leaning delightfully into her caresses, she reached out to touch his arm as he leaned down to put Doula in the bed.

“If Richard or I can to anything to help, please let us know.”

She watched in awe how he handled the baby. Thinking back to when she had Lorelai, she had been treating her like a raw egg, always afraid she would hurt that tiny little being somehow. Those fears were gone after a few weeks – which most probably was also the case with Jess. And Rory. Thinking back to her visit in Yale, also her granddaughter was pretty relaxed when it concerned the little girl, and now she started wondering how often both of them had taken care of her.

Doula’s eyes sprang open the second she was on her back and Jess had let go off her. Her arms uncoordinatedly started moving, so did her legs, having Jess sigh again. He thought she was asleep. When he reached out to lift her out of the bed again, a soft “Don’t”, from Emily made him stop.

“Huh?”

“Take her hands in one hand and make sure her arms are not moving. She’s been squeezed into a ball for 9 months and still not used to having that much space.”

Frowning, Jess did as the older woman told him. The movements stopped, still her eyes were open, heavy-lidded, though, and her head was still turning from side to side.

Before he could ask what she wanted to achieve with that, Emily spoke up again.

“Now, slowly caress from her forehead down to the tip of her nose a few times.”

Throwing her a skeptical side glance, Jess ran the back of his forefinger down Doula’s face and widened his eyes in surprise as her eyes closed in accordance with his movement. They fluttered open again, but after the fourth time they stayed closed ( _AN: I didn’t want to believe it, but that really works if a baby’s tired but too worked up to sleep!!! Test object was my 2 month old nephew_ ).

“You have to hold her arms for a bit longer, but this way you don’t have to carry her around all the time if you want to get her to sleep.”

Jess squatted next to the baby bed, throwing Emily a look. Ernest had decided to climb on her lap by now, and though her caresses looked rough the cat seemed to enjoy every second of it

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I had to use every trick I could find to get Lorelai to sleep…” she trailed off, her eyes suddenly narrowing.

Jess frowned and then realized where her gaze was focused. The sleeve of his shirt had been pushed up and she saw his tattoo. Great.

He didn’t expect a “That must have hurt”, and a giggle afterwards.

***

“... so of course, we spiked the punch.” Emily by now was sitting at one corner of the couch, Ernest sound asleep and purring on her lap, Jess sat cross legged on the other side. If somebody had told him two weeks ago he would have this kind of conversation with Emily Gilmore at 7 a.m., on a couch, both of them in joggers and a shirt (and Emily still felt uncomfortable that Luke had borrowed her both), he would have called that person an idiot.

“I would have spiked pretty much everything that was there to drink”, Jess smirked. Obviously, Rory’s Grandmother had been a bad girl during college.

“Well, somebody obviously did that. I could hold my liquor back then, and I made sure to not have too much of the punch, and still am missing the memory of a big part of that evening. Still, somehow we managed to stagger into this tattoo shop. My friend Biddy who later married Hanlon Charleston is always wearing long sleeves, because she wanted a cartoon devil with a halo on her upper arm.”

“And you?”

“I chose a kitten.”

“Where? Can I see it?” Emily Gilmore of all people had a tattoo???

Now Emily blushed. Jess watched her closely.

“Don’t tell me you got hammered and then woke up with a tat on your bum!” he then exclaimed in disbelief, while Emily looked at him horrified.

“No, of course not! It’s on my shoulder blade, and it’s highly inappropriate to ask if you could see it. I could be your Grandmother, young man!” If her hands were not tangled in Ernest’s fur she would have smacked him

“You are the one who wants a picture of me in underwear! Talking about inappropriate here!” Both of them laughed now and Jess observed how she was kneading his cat.

“He looks completely switched off.”

“As soon as I had moved to Northampton, I wanted a pet – something my parents had never allowed me. I went to an animal shelter, afraid that they would not give me a dog or a cat because I never had one. That crazy lady there just looked at me and told me _You’re a cat person. Just go in there. One of them will chose you._

I had thought of getting an older one, that I did not have to potty train, and so on, but then this little white fur ball made her way to me and climbed up my pants.”

“I almost hit Ernest with my car and then spent two hours trying to bribe him out from under that waste container. He was so dirty and smelly that I decided to wash him. Now I have to make sure that he doesn’t hop into the bathtub all the time.”

“Duchess always grew eight legs when I wanted to bathe her.” Emily laughed at the memory. With the white fur her cat got dirty from just sitting around, and she fervently hated the bathtub.

“ _Aristocats_? Seriously?” Jess asked. But then, he had named his cat after his favorite writer.

“One of my most favorite movies…” Emily answered, smiling softly. Oh, how she loved these non sequitur conversations.

Jess shrugged. “Hey, _Everybody wants to be a cat_ , right?”

***

Lorelai was still rubbing her eyes, not really awake, but hungry like a wolf. So she had woken her husband who was following her equally _not_ awake, but dutifully keen on making her breakfast.

He nearly ran her over when she stopped on the stairs, throwing an incredulous look into the living room.

She had been right. Apocalypse had taken place, Skynet had been launched, Doomsday was over.

There was no other explanation for Emily Gilmore and Jess Mariano sitting on her couch, laughing with each other.

And since when was her mother so fond of cats?!


	48. Family is a risky venture

They had decided on continuing the moving into the house next to the Diner as they had planned before hell went lose – after all, Luke and Lorelai wanted to move in _before_ the twins were born, and Rory had this semester’s finals coming up, wanting to get this out of the way before.

Jess was swearing under his breath, though. His sprained wrist from his encounter with TJ made it almost impossible to lift anything heavier than Doula during the last few days of moving. With TJ and Liz out of the picture, he had no clue when he would be able to get all of his stuff that was still in Philadelphia. And Chris and Matt had asked whether he was ok with them renting out his room to one of their new (and, curiously enough, promising) authors – so his stuff _had to_ go.

Lorelai was cranky because she was fed up with being pregnant and not allowed to do anything but directing where she wanted boxes and furniture to be put, Luke was cranky because he was the only one carrying heavy boxes – and Rory was trying to be as sweet and cheerful as always, but her finals were stressing her out, and she had a runny nose from a cold she had caught when standing around in the cold in front of a burning house.

Jess was cranky because he felt like being cranky. He had volunteered to stay in the Crap Shack, packing stuff, while Luke and Rory were doing the transportation – figuring after a rather painful experience when trying to carry one of the dressers in the bedroom together with Luke, that it was better to ask Jackson for help concerning that. So now, he was packing a ridiculous amount of shoes and the contents of Lorelai’s wardrobe, suddenly realizing that after they were done with moving, they would have the furniture in Rory’s bedroom, and the kitchen table plus chairs. No plates, no pots, no pans… no glasses… no towels, no… _Calm down, Mariano, no reason to panic._

Oh, and this one room upstairs that was full with stuff Emily had sent over a year ago. What the heck were they supposed to do with that rubbish in there???

At least Doula appeared to be happy. She did not seem to miss her parents, but then, he guessed that she was just too young for anything like that, being happy that there was someone who took care of her needs regularly and made funny faces at her every now and then. He had just fed her and now listened to her baby gurgle as she was watching the mobile that was attached to the baby bed, her wake periods over time becoming long enough to need a distraction.

Closing the box, he sighed and shoved it out into the hallway using his foot. At least the walk-in wardrobe was almost empty now, everything from inside the bathroom was gone already, and Jackson would help with the furniture, so Luke and Lorelai could spend their first night in their new home.

By the time he was finished with the last box, Doula was asleep, so he closed the curtains and snorted at the incoherent thought that at least they had curtains, because Lorelai had gotten new ones for the house next to the Diner.

Walking down into the living room was a somewhat depressing experience. It was empty, or, to be more precise, its interior had been relocated to another house in town, looking as cozy as it had here. Sighing at himself he wondered, where his enthusiasm about the house had gone. A week ago, Rory and he had been overflowing with ideas what to change once everything was gone, and now the building just felt empty, and he didn’t even know where to start…

He was still contemplating whether to call the others, letting them know he was done packing upstairs, or to seize to opportunity and hide in Rory’s bedroom to read a bit when his cellphone started to ring. A look to the caller ID made his heart speed up, and he was actually wondering why it did, anxiety creeping up his spine, making him shiver slightly.

The night Liz and TJ had been admitted to intensive care at Hartfort Hospital, the doctors had told him that both most probably would be relocated to Bridgeport Hospital Burn Center, where they would get the best treatment possible for their wounds and adequate psychological support. He was still busy processing the fact that his mother, once more, managed to set a building on fire while roasting marshmallows, and having his wrist looked at, a nurse fussing over the cut on his cheek. The true meaning of what was awaiting them needed some time to seep in, though.

It would be months before they would be able to leave the hospital and rehabilitation. He did not even know whether Liz and TJ had a health insurance or if they would sit on a heap of unpaid hospital bills afterwards. His first thought when he found out that Liz had been drunk and stoned had been about reporting her for substance abuse, take the entire thing to court and claim custody for his sister, while trying to forget that his mother and her weird husband even existed.

The waiting periods in the hospital, with Luke sitting on a chair and trying to not look as nauseated as he felt, all sorts of memories coming back from the days where he took care of his father, with Rory falling asleep on his shoulder, with Lorelai being tired and worn out, but never leaving his site, with Emily shooing around nurses, it made his anger disappear ever so slightly, and it made his ability to think reappear. He had found his family, people that stood up for him. Lest he could do was not to kick somebody who was already down.

He did not have to report her. She had admitted loudly that she was high. He would not overreact and get involved with the Department of Children and Families that would drag out his rather colorful past as a child and teenager in New York. Taking this to court could also backfire, having Doula end up in a foster family, and he definitely did not want this.

What he really needed to do was talk to Liz, as he had planned before this disaster, get her view on the entire situation. And then he still could lash out and claim custody for the little one.

So why was he this anxious now to take the call? Shaking his head about himself he pushed the button to answer the phone. This was something he could not evade, so grit your teeth and get to it!

He was informed that they would start to wake TJ the same day, and Liz most probably the day after, and wanted to discuss on how to further proceed as soon as possible.

***

Two days later, Jess was on the verge of throwing a tantrum, with two female assistant doctors fussing Grey’s anatomy-like over his mother, sending him accusatory glances, after all, they woke her the day before, and why had he not been sleeping in the hallway while his oh so sweet mother was in an artificial coma.

Yah, she was nice, and sweet, and funny. To everyone else, that was his experience. Despite their injuries, both she and TJ seemed to entertain the intensive care unit.

“Did she ask for me?” he was questioning both women rather rudely, at which both of them frowned at him, and then had to admit that no, she had not. But, of course, in their mind, it was his fault. Taking a deep breath he told himself to stay calm, throwing a fit would not help anybody.

Rory had volunteered to come along, and he knew she would have done a great job in keeping him sane, but she was still ill, and barely able to attend her classes – so he had made her stay with Paris in New Haven. He would worry himself less sick when he knew she wasn’t commuting back and forth between Stars Hollow and Yale, but only had to walk to her courses. And Paris had promised to take care of her.

Lorelai had volunteered to keep Doula, an offer he gratefully took. Luke had told him to tell everybody he said hi. Liz knew about his aversion when it came to hospitals, she would understand. And if she didn’t, he would make her.

So, while he was equipped with an overcoat and a surgical mask his thoughts meandered to what he was supposed to say. He was a writer, for heaven’s sake, even though the events lately had put a full stop at his ambitions to get anywhere close to finishing his real second book, because the Christmas gift he was working on for Lorelai did not really count. He should be good with words.

The doctor that took him to his mother’s room just threw another glance at the quiet young man. The mother was so cheerful and bubbly, and he was just grouching.

“Your father is in the next room, I guess he would be happy about a visit, too”, she told him as she was already walking away, and did not see him flinch at the words.

Thank god the nurse in there was all business and not in any mood to chat or discuss his Mommy-issues. She just let him know to keep it short, because Liz was still kind of out of it from the narcotics and the painkillers she was on.

Of course a cheery “Jessie, my baby boy is here!” greeted him when he entered the room. They had cut her hair, that was the first thing he observed. Her arms and one leg were bandaged up.

“Hey”, he managed to address her, while she kept on being cheerful for whatever reason.

“Come here, let me hug you!”

“I don’t think you can hug anyone, Liz.”

“Oh, don’t be such a grouch! Just because I had a glass of wine and was a teeny tiny bit stoned…”

He could see her put an effort in keeping up the cheerful attire, while he was contemplating the fact that if Rory, Lorelai, or even Emily had been in here, he would have camped out in the hallway, and rushed to either woman’s side the second she awoke. Was he really this cold towards his own mother?

“You could have died in there. TJ could have died. If you weren’t outsourcing Doula all the time, she would have been there, too.” He marveled about his soft voice, telling her all of this like another person was reading the weather report.

He could hear her gasp, most of all, because she could not say anything against this, after all, it was the truth.

“It cannot go on like this, Liz. I love Doula. I know you love her, too, and in his own, weird way, I guess, also TJ does. You are neglecting her. Most of the time you do not even remember that she’s existing. Both of you. If you don’t want her, I’ll have her, with all strings attached. If you need psychological help, well, you’re in a hospital full of doctors. Just don’t make the kid suffer, do something about it.”

Liz’s smile fell with every word her son said. Oh, he was always so blunt, directly to the point. He rarely sugar-coated stuff, so of course instead of coming in here all _poor Mommy_ he held up a mirror, making her face what she tried to disguise.

She could claim she was tired, worn out from the injuries and medication. It would be an easy way to not deal with what she knew. Jess was so good with the baby, already when she was only a few days old and Liz was afraid of breaking her –or TJ breaking her. She had been thrilled just as she had been when she found out about being pregnant with Jess. This enthusiasm slowly faded, however, and when Doula was born, she got restless again, wanting to travel, wanting to drink, just that she was tethered down now with her house. Her house that was gone now.

“You would… have her?” she asked silently, watching his figure that had not moved away from the entrance.

“To be honest, I briefly contemplated going to court, claiming custody, without giving a fuck what you’d have to say. You said you were sober, Liz. You said you were clean. You lied. And I’m the worst example of what comes out when you try to be a mother like that.”

That hurt. She wanted to reach out, telling him that he had turned out well, only to realize that this was not because of her doing.

“I… thought that feeling would go away… that I would want her after she was born, mother instincts kicking in… I’m… so sorry…” Weirdly enough she felt relieved after admitting that. Jess still did not move.

“Talk to one of the doctors here, Liz. If you don’t, then I will. I don’t want to take your kid away, but we have to figure out something. I need to be able to make decisions for her, you’ll be in hospital for quite some time.”

This time, Liz only nodded.

***

Lorelai sighed with relief when she found Jess in front of the entrance door of her brand-new house. He was late, it was already dark outside, however, she also did not know what they would tell him or make him sign at the hospital, so she did not want to interrupt anything by calling him.

Her worries were back instantly when she saw his face. Something was eating him, and somehow she was dreading asking him, because somehow she always felt like bringing up bad memories when she dug around in his life.

Ushering him inside she watched him take off his coat, his eyes scanning the living room for Doula.

“I had Luke take the bed upstairs in April’s room, it’s quieter up there.”

Nodding, her daughter’s boyfriend ran a hand over his face.

“Jess, is everything ok at the hospital? Did anything happen…?”

“No! No… Liz and TJ are as fine as they can be. Both agreed that it would be best to sign over custody for Doula to me, at least temporarily… where’s Luke?”

Lorelai sighed. At least the kid would be taken care of.

“He already went to bed, I guess he caught the same bug Rory has.”

Watching her nephew-in-law take another deep breath, her motherly side took over.

“Okay, what do you say about having Dinner with Mommy, watch an absolutely stupid movie, and you crash in April’s room? Because, seriously, Kiddo, I’d feel a lot better if you were not alone tonight.”

Seeing Jess nod thankfully, she put on a smile.

“Okay, I’ll order whatever is on the special menu at Al’s Pancake World, while you hop upstairs and have a shower, and we’ll meet again in 30 for _Fun with Dick and Jane.”_

“I’m all in for Al’s Pancake World… but I don’t know if I’m in the mood for Jim Carrey”, Jess answered with a tired smirk.

“We can also watch _Ella Enchanted_ , if that’s more your kind of weather, Cinderella!”

He was laughing while he went upstairs, and Lorelai was smiling, too. Mission cheer-up-Jess had only started.


	49. Wit is educated insolence

_Three weeks later_

Liz had been diagnosed with post partem depression, having confided in her doctor the same day Jess had confronted her. Intriguingly enough, TJ had found a steady job before they even knew that Liz was pregnant, and, even more intriguing, had kept it until now, including a health insurance that would cover the costs for most of their recovery and psychological treatments, so at least they would not end up with a mountain of dept.

The visit of the person from the Department of Children and Families was rather short, and pleasantly ended without Jess’ past being used against him or any objections – Liz had decided to get help concerning both her depression and substance abuse, and TJ obviously had had some time to think about how he had been treating his daughter in the past, feeling bad about it. Their declaration that they wanted to sign over custody to Jess, that the young man had a steady income, was working from home, and owned a house, and the fact that everybody else the lady from the DCF was talking to had told her how good Jess was taking care of the little one had made her promise that everything would be taken care of as soon as possible, and that she would push things.

With that out of the way, the young couple finally had time to take care of their own housing situation.

Emily’s stuff in the small bedroom had been a real treasure – After finally going in there and starting to have a look what exactly the oldest Gilmore Girl had been outsourcing, Rory and Jess had found pots and pans, china, glasses, cutlery, towels… basically everything except furniture, and curiously enough, both of them liked the plain and simple, but elegant designs Emily had chosen years, if not decades ago.

Emily had been delighted when Rory had called, asking if it was really okay if they used the things, and neither Rory, nor Jess were able to talk her and Richard out of sponsoring a trip to IKEA, to furnish their living room and bedroom, set up a room for Doula in the small bedroom upstairs, and an office in Rory’s old bedroom.

“Just see it as an engagement gift!” Emily had said, and for her the discussion was ended. She would have opted for anything _but_ IKEA, however, since she and Richard had vowed to not meddle with the choices Rory or Lorelai made, she was happy, when her granddaughter and her fiancée finally gave in.

Both young people had been surprised when the older Gilmores visited them a few days later, and were honestly pleased with their choices, with Emily starting to think loudly about new furniture in her living room, and Richard cooing over the useful design of the desks in the new office.

Of course, they came with another gift, a scratch pole for Ernest, carefully selected by Emily, that nicely fit with the design of the living room, which the tomcat gladly accepted as his new sleeping place – at least during the day. The nights he was spending on a cat bed in Doula’s room. Rory had been worried at first that the cat would jump in the baby bed, maybe scratch the kid, and had tried to make him sleep downstairs, or even in her and Jess’ bedroom, but Ernest had meowed long, loud, and shrill enough to annoy both of them, so Jess had given in one night.

“So I guess, I’m the bad parent, huh?” Rory had joked that night, curled against him in their new bed.

“Concerning Ernest, you are”, Jess had laughed, pulling her close.

***

“You know, I like coming here and not having to dread the Dinner, or saying the wrong thing”, Rory said, as she pulled up in front of her Grandparents’ house in Hartford. Her Grandmother was late with this year’s Christmas party, normally she always had it in the beginning of December.

According to Emily, Hartford’s high society had gone crazy speculating why she had moved her party, and Emily had been genuinely amused when she told her family about it.

“Maybe they think Dad’s out of business and you don’t have the money this year”, Lorelai had joked, and Emily snorted.

“Please, most of them are Richard’s clients, they know where they leave their money”, Emily had answered, revealing some of the speculations ranging from Lorelai and Luke getting a divorce to Rory having ended up in rehab because her new boyfriend got her onto drugs.

“Her _new_ boyfriend?” Jess had piped up, throwing a funny look at his mother-in-law and his uncle, who were still crying with laughter.

“Obviously, they have been spying on our house every time you two visited after your visits to the hospital, and since you cut your hair and changed the attire of your beard, they thought you were someone else”, Richard had explained, sighing about the ridiculous rumors that were spread by Emily’s friends… and the husbands of said friends were not better, tattle telling news like that also to him.

“I told you that you should have kept the long hair. Love the Stark goatee, though”, Lorelai had smirked.

“You were braiding it when I fell asleep during our movie night!!!” Jess had exclaimed. Yes, everything had looked better and he also felt better after spending his time with her watching _A hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy_ and _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ in the end, eating a ridiculous amount of junk food and sweets. He was exhausted, though, falling asleep somewhere through the second movie, and woke up to braided strands of hair.

Lorelai had been laughing so hard at his tries to disentangle the strands again that she started to hiccup, Sid and Nancy were hiccupping, too, and he had to laugh at both of that. Mission cheer-up-Jess had been a great success.

“I’m looking forward to the food”, Jess replied as he unbuckled the seat belt. Emily had been describing in detail what she would be serving, and Lorelai for the first time in her life was really sad that she could not attend a party at her parents’ house. The back spasms had come back, confining her to her bed, once more, so she and Luke had offered to take Doula.

“Did we really allow them to announce our engagement today?” Rory asked, her seatbelt still in place. So much for not dreading to go in there.

Leaning over to her side, Jess pecked her lips. ”Yes, we did, after your grandmother made puppy dog eyes that would have made Paul Anka proud. Do her the favor, she seems really enthusiastic about it. They’ll figure out anyways that you will marry your _new_ boyfriend. We can bet on how often they will ask you if you’re pregnant.”

Rory snorted at that comment. “Hehe, we can tell them that the kid is turning three months in January.”

***

They had only reached the door when a silver Porsche stopped right in front of the entrance, making the young man from the parking service jump back a bit.

Both Rory and Jess turned at the muttered curse, Rory grabbing onto Jess’ arm tighter than before when she saw who exited the car.

“Great. What is he doing here?”

“Just imagine his face when Emily and Richard proclaim our engagement”, Jess whispered into her ear, making her smile.

“Oh, this will be hilarious. He will try to provoke you the entire evening, though…” she whispered back, straightening up as Logan Huntzberger had reached the door.

“Well, Rory, what a surprise. And… Jack, right?” he asked, a smug grin on his face.

“Yeah, big surprise to meet me at my Grandparents’ Christmas party. And it’s Jess”, Rory replied, unconsciously scooting closer to her fiancée.

Jess just closed his arms around her. “Dick, right?” he asked, before turning his head towards the opening entrance door.

Emily frowned at the picture outside her house, Rory and Jess in a tight embrace, Logan Huntzberger making a face like someone had made him drink battery acid. She almost laughed. Comparing both men in front of her, and taking into consideration what she had learnt about them in the past few weeks (that story about Logan and the bridesmaids had her fuming for days), she just started to smile genuinely.

“Rory, Jess! Come on in, you two, it is cold out there. How is your wrist, Jess?”

Logan’s expression was priceless when she ushered her granddaughter and _Jack_ into the house, made them shrug out of their coats and hugged Rory while _Jack_ was telling her that his wrist was fine. His face fell even more when Emily also hugged _Jack_.

Clearing his throat Logan made the three people in front of him aware of his presence again, Emily this time sending her business smile at him.

“Logan. To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”

Logan sent back the same type of well-trained smile. “Well, visiting the family over the holidays, Dad had some urgent business in London, and Mom was not feeling well, so she sent me. I hope it’s not a problem.”

Emily wanted to tell him that yes, it was a problem, because she was quite sure he would not behave himself, after all he had appeared and risked running into his ex-girlfriend. She had invited Sheira because she knew it was expected, and she knew that Mitchum would not attend. She also knew that Logan hardly could have told his mother no, and it would be really impolite if she sent him away. So she just kept smiling.

“Of course not. Please, come in and make sure to let your mother know that we hope she gets better soon.” With that she turned away from the entrance, facing Jess and Rory again.

“Jess, you may want to find Richard, he wanted to talk to you about something. Rory, can I borrow you just for a moment?” she asked, making Rory smile.

“As long as I don’t end up with a tiara and fifty bachelors around me, sure.”

“Oh, please, I know you are spoken for. I’m still waiting for the Calvin Klein Poster, though”, Emily laughed, smacking Jess’ forearm and eliciting another frown from Logan.

Jess just chuckled back. “I’m working on it, Emily. Our date for IKEA still standing?

“Of course it is, after all I need a frame for that poster. Richard should be in the living room”, Emily laughed, taking her granddaughter’s hand and pulled her away, while Jess strolled away into the direction of the living room.

Logan still stood in the doorway, the maid waiting for his coat.

“What the…?”

***

Emily ushered Rory upstairs, being really excited about something, what made Rory really curious.

“Please, Grandma, just tell me there’s no hairdresser and five ridiculously expensive dresses in there”, she exclaimed, as she was dragged along to the room that used to be her bedroom.

“No, no, no, of course not. I just went shopping yesterday, and I stumbled over something, and I wanted to show you first and ask what you think before I can give it to Lorelai and Luke…”

Opening the door she revealed a twin baby stroller.

“I just could not resist, and last time we visited she was talking about something like that. I actually had a long talk with the shop assistant – that stroller has the best references, and no, it did not cost a fortune… Lorelai does not have one yet, right?” Emily asked and watched her Granddaughter enter the room to inspect the baby carriage.

“No, they don’t have one yet, that was on the to do list for next week.” Pushing the stroller forward, Rory was astonished how easy it was to steer it. “Oh, wow, I want something like that for Doula, dragging around the baby seat gets too heavy all the time…”

Emily watched her Granddaughter as she continued her inspection. It was weird how easy it was to accept that she was taking care of a two month old, talking about baby beds and strollers. She wanted to offer buying one, but told herself to stop, because Rory would have turned it down. Instead, she said: “I can show you the store. Doula’s parents don’t have one you could use?”

Rory gritted her teeth at that. “They did not even have a room for her…”

Emily closed up to Rory, caressing her arm. “Her mother is suffering from post partem depression. It’s hardly her fault, she is sick. She is getting help now, and will treat Doula much better afterwards.”

Her Granddaughter’s cerulean eyes were sad when she looked at her.

“Yes… and then she will take her away from Jess and me. I don’t know if I can do that, Grandma…”

Emily did not know what to say to this, still, a tiny “Oh” escaped her. She had never thought about the situation in this way. Closing the gap between her and Rory, Emily hugged her Granddaughter.

“Oh, Sweetheart…”

Rory leaned into the embrace, hugging her Grandmother back.

“Is it stupid of me to feel like her Mom? She’s not even my child”, she asked.

“Of course not. Concerning Doula, you are her mother – you are the woman who is feeding her, and burping her, changing her, and staying up at night when she cannot sleep. You are the one who is singing to her, even though you cannot stay in tune…”

Rory was smiling at that.

“Liz and TJ won’t get her back instantly, anyway, when they’re done with rehab. She is a drug-addict, and they signed over custody to Jess. You will have to work out something anyway to make getting back to her parents as easy as possible for the child. And maybe you should let Jess do the singing, he actually has a very nice voice.”

Rory was laughing at that comment.

“Thank you, Grandma, that hurt only a tiny bit. You know what, I will call Mom and tell her to cancel her stroller shopping. And maybe you could join me for mine…?” she smiled, making Emily smile in return, as she let go off Rory. Yes, it would be hard to let the child go back to her parents. But why not make the best out of the time they had with her?

“It will be my pleasure.”

“Thank you. So… how do you know about Jess’ singing voice…?”

***

Richard found Jess before he had even started looking for the older man.

“Jess, it’s good to see you. How are you?”

Jess shook Richard’s hand, nodding at another gray-haired man next to Rory’s Grandfather who was busy cleaning his glasses.

“I’m fine. Lorelai and Luke say hi. Lorelai ordered to steal some apple tarts. And there I had thought the food cravings were over, finally.”

Richard was laughing at that. “I think Emily has some put away for Lorelai. For years those tarts have been the only reason she was attending our Christmas parties.”

Jess bit his tongue to keep himself from saying “Well, then I’ll definitely have to try one.” A few weeks earlier, a snide remark like that would have been a somewhat normal reaction. However, since the Gilmores were family now, and they actually liked, and not just tolerated each other, it would have been very rude.

Richard however seemed to sense what the younger man was thinking, and just continued laughing. “Oh yes, they are _that_ good”, he stated, making Jess and the other man chuckle.

“All the food Emily is serving is exceptional. I miss Lorelai, though, she was always elevating the wit-level. And she always insisted on calling me Steve, and asked me how my car-selling business is doing.” The man next to Richard extended his hand. “Peter Olson.”

As Jess introduced himself, Richard started to look a bit self-conscious. He hoped Jess would not see this as meddling with his life. He had forgotten about the novel on his desk, and the _READ THIS!_ post it after the reconciliation with Lorelai and Rory. He had not even realized that it was gone, until Pete had called him a few days after an appointment.

_“Very subtle, Richard. Where did you find this book?”_

_Richard just had frowned. “What book, Pete?”_

_“Oh, come on, that short novel on your desk. With the very subtle post it telling me to READ THIS! You know, normally, I have people doing the reading.”_

_Richard sighed. “Pete, I have no idea what you are talking about.”_

_“There was a book on your desk, a short novel. Come on, where did you find it? Who is this Jess Mariano?”_

“I have a confession to make –actually, it’s all Emily’s fault”, Richard started. He looked that meek that Jess rolled his eyes and snorted.

“Let me guess: The CEO of Random house found my novel on your desk, and you wanna tell me now that Steve liked it?” Yes, he knew _who_ that guy was, after all he was working in the same business. He had never dreamt of meeting him, though.

While Richard scratched the back of his head, more or less nodding a yes, Pete started laughing.

“Oh, I see, Lorelai has a worthy successor.”

“I did not do this on purpose, Jess. Emily bought your book and wanted me to read it, pinning a paper note to it. Pete was here for his life insurance and… was it the comprehensive insurance?”

“I don’t think that anybody is interested in what insurance we were taking care of. I felt addressed by the _READ THIS!_ sign, and since Richard normally does not call in favors, I got curious. I liked your book.”

Jess had to admit that he was flattered. And hoped he would not stutter as he said “Thank you.”

“And I would like to forward it to one of our editors.”

At that, Jess tilted his head. “Doesn’t Random house normally require a literary agent in between? Because that was the main reason that in the end we decided to self-publish it at Truncheon…”

That sentence once more spiked Olson’s interest. He had been working in the book-business for decades now, a passion for reading leading him to a profession he could spend with books. However, he had always worked for established companies and fought to keep them on top. Building such a business was new for him, so he started to grill the young man in front of him about it.

***

Rory headed for the buffet after her phone call to her mother, slowly scanning the crowd for her fiancée. Spotting him with her Grandfather and Peter Olson, of all people, made her a bit antsy, however, Jess appeared relaxed, and was talking with his hands, so obviously everything was okay.

Emily was caught up in a conversation with Biddy Charleston by now, telling the other woman something that made her blush furiously and then had both women break into a heartfelt laughter. Rory smiled at that – her Grandmother was smiling very often. A real laughter was something rare, though.

Turning back to the buffet she continued filling her plate, and almost spilled the contents when a voice from behind startled her.

“Well, if that’s not our famous reporter girl. Did Jack already kick you to the curb, now that he’s got into Pete Olson’s pants?” Logan snarled. Obviously, he had gone straight to the bar, holding a tumbler with some amber liquid in it.

She briefly contemplated ignoring him, but that would just have resulted in him bugging her even more. So she just looked in the same direction, suppressing a smile as she watched _her man_ , and tilted her head.

“Pete Olson? That is Steve over there, Grandpa’s Jaguar-dealer. Grandma and Grandpa have known him for years.”

Logan looked so confused that she almost laughed out loud. After throwing another look across the room, he shrugged and turned back to his ex-girlfriend.

“Anyhow… so, how are you doing? Is life treating you well? Do you miss me?”

Rolling her eyes, Rory fished for a fork in the cutlery and then looked at Logan again.

“Fine. Yes. No.”

That obviously confused him again. “Huh?”

“That were the answers to your questions. Don’t you know any other people here to bug, Logan?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I’m just making small talk here, so you don’t have to stand around here alone.”

“Logan…” She did not need that. Yes, she had been cheating on him. Once. And yes, maybe it had hurt more than just his ego – but he was half a globe away, and when he wasn’t, he was partying, the only constant in his life a tumbler with booze in his hand.

“Seriously, Ace. You dumped me for him?”

How could she explain to him that her and Jess were more, always had been more than she and Logan would have ever been? With Logan it was hard to imagine the next day. With Jess, she wasn’t having any troubles imagining the rest of her life.

So she answered with a plain “Yes”, declining a glass of champagne Logan had snatched from the tray of a bypassing waiter.

“Just don’t come crying about your boring life when writer boy has his breakthrough in about 20 years and leaves you for a younger version of yourself, while you sacrificed all your dreams, stayed at home with your 2.3 kids, supporting the artist genius…”, Logan spat.

“Oh, we already established that Jess is staying home with the kids. Our baby likes _him_ better, anyway. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll rather go over there and stay with my fiancée than with a person who is grouching at me all the time.” Rory put her plate down on the table, her appetite had vanished. Emily’s gaze followed her, and she threw the Huntzberger heir an acerbic look once Rory had reached Jess, her arms closing around his waist.

She should have thrown him out. The confused look on Logan’s face, however, told her that her Granddaughter also had taken a swing at him that hit home.

***

“Hey there”, Rory said, scooting close to Jess. Pete Olson and Richard had excused themselves only a moment ago, after spotting some old Yale friends of Richard, mumbling something about cigars and 50 year old scotch. He didn’t like both, a fact that earned him some knowing faces and a look of wisdom from the older men. Pete had given him his card, and to be honest, in the moment he was overwhelmed with the encounter of this man and the decisions he was supposed to make now.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me you knew the CEO from Random house?” he asked, closing his arms around her. She had been cheerful when they had arrived here. Now her smile was tired and somewhat artificial.

“Because that’s Steve. He’s selling cars.”

Jess smiled at that. Yeah. He was Steve, and he played along with Lorelai’s antics. That’s why they liked him. Not because he was the boss of a huge publishing company.

“Steve wants to sell _my_ car”, he said, and had to wait a bit until that information sank in. Her big blue eyes lit up, her smile reaching them once again.

“That’s great! No, actually, this is huge! Oh, we need to call Mom, she’ gonna love Steve even more!”

“Mommy will learn about that early enough. She’s supposed to rest, Ror, not to answer your phone calls every five minutes.”

Rory blushed at that comment.

“God, I never thought I was one of the women who calls home from a party only ten minutes after it started… I had Mom hold the phone to our baby girl’s ear to tell her good night. Am I going to be a helicopter Mom?” she asked, and Jess was not entirely sure if she was serious or wanted to play games with Logan who was strolling by just now.

Logan choked on his drink, so Jess decided it did not actually matter.

“Please, if I hadn’t forgotten my cellphone in the car I already would have called twice. How is our little one?” he asked, putting some actual effort into keeping a straight face.

“She was sleeping.” Rory sounded disappointed, “Grandma bought the cutest twin stroller for Mom and Luke, by the way. I’ll go and shop for one for Doula next week, because I feel like a drudge all the time with the baby seat.”

Logan looked by now as if he was having a stroke, obviously busy doing the math for Rory having a kid and getting her figure back.

Jess couldn’t help laughing now and decided to put Logan out of his misery. ”Maybe you want to add that we have custody for my little sister before Dick passes out while he’s calculating the alimony you’d be collecting from him”, he said, making Rory spin around.

“Oh…” Seeing Logan this pale and shell shocked actually, a hysterical laughter erupted from her throat.

“God, Mom will hate us for pulling something like that while she was not there!” she exclaimed, with Logan throwing her a look that told her she was insane.

“Maybe we can reenact it at our home. You free during the Christmas holidays, Dick?” Jess laughed, receiving an acerbic look as answer, before Logan turned away, stomping over to some of his father’s business acquaintances.

When Jess continued to softly chuckle next to her, Rory sent him a questioning look.

“We’re finally back to mocking the guy with the Porsche”, he explained, making her smile again.


	50. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> … remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. (Epicurus)

A quick glance to the alarm clock on his side of the bed told Jess that is was only a few minutes after 3 in the morning, so actually, there was no reason at all to be awake.

Listening into the silence of the house, he figured that also the baby was not demanding attention, so he was not sure what made him wake up.

Then he realized that he was lying on his back. So Rory was not in bed.

He did not have to go far to find her. Before he became Doula’s official warden, every time she got restless and got up in the middle of the night he would find her in some corner of the apartment above the Diner, making her famous Pro/Con Lists of where to apply and which newspapers would be best, bursting with enthusiasm.

The list-making had stopped after the night of the fire. When they had moved into the Crap Shack, he would find her at the door to Doula’s room every now and then, watching the baby sleep. He also did that occasionally, so he found nothing peculiar about that.

He silently closed up to her, his arms sliding around her waist, and Rory rested her head back against his collarbone, her arms folding over his.

“What’s wrong, Rory?” he asked, burying his nose in her hair. “This is the third night in a row I find you here, it’s getting weird.”

“I’ve… been thinking. A lot, lately.”

“Without a Pro/Con list?” Jess smiled against her hair, his gaze straying to Ernest as the cat stretched, but then rolled into a ball again on his bed.

“Please, don’t mock me.” Her head moved forward, her gaze now dropping to the floor. Jess’ smile faded as he tightened his hold around her.

“I’m sorry. What’s wrong?” Placing a small kiss behind her ear he could feel her lean into him again.

“You remember that night when I was tutoring you?”

Jess grunted at that. How could he forget that night?

“I’m not gonna hurt you again, I promise…”, he whispered, making her turn in his arms with a surprised sound.

“No, that’s not what I wanted to say. Our conversation about me wanting to become a foreign correspondent and you helping me with it.”

“I still could drive a car at you, and yell at you in a foreign language.”

She softly smiled at him, and then hid her head against his collarbone again.

“I don’t want that anymore.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to go into war zones in foreign countries anymore.”

Jess did not know what to say to that. Her dream always had been journalism, going abroad. He knew it was selfish of him to hope she would change her goals, because no way in hell he would feel comfortable with her in a war zone, so he had not said anything, thinking he would deal with that as it goes.

“I want this…” she said against his shoulder, making him utter another oh so eloquent “huh?”

“You, me, our baby, our cat. I’m turning into Suzie Homemaker, and I don’t have any clue what I’m supposed to do once I’m finished with College after that next semester.”

So that was what was eating her.

“You could sit down, make some new lists. Yale does not only train foreign correspondents, you know? You also need journalists elsewhere.” Preferably out of any war zone.

That got him a swat on his upper arm.

“Thank you, smartass, I’m having a nervous breakdown here because my biological clock just flushed my career ambitions down the toilet, and you tell me to just find a different job?” She was laughing softly while telling him this, so he joked back.

“That’s how it usually works. Biological clock?”

At that she lifted her head, turning it to watch the sleeping child again.

“I never thought I would have children… I never know what to do with Sookie’s kids, and I am their godmother, for heaven’s sake… But with Doula… I know when she’s upset, or hungry, or happy and playful, and I am inventing little songs only to make her smile.”

Jess smiled at that. Both of them by now had quite a conglomeration of ridiculous, recomposed kids’ songs that you better kept to yourself (especially the stinky-butt song), to distract the girl during changing diapers, or to just to make her laugh.

“You are a great Mom”, he said, drawing her closer again. “And somehow I’m glad how everything turned out. I never thought of myself as father material… I’m just dreading the moment we might have to give her back…”

“I don’t want to think about that, yet.”

Draping her arms around Jess waist she leaned against him, facing the baby bed and their cat again.

“Can we go back to bed, now? You know we’re at your Mom’s and Luke’s place later to celebrate Christmas… and you know how hyped up she’s been the last days because of that”, he asked, placing a kiss against her temple.

Rory just smiled, cuddling closer.

“Or do you wanna drag out some paper and a pen and start a new list?” he asked, smiling softly.

She slowly shook her head.

“No… no, that can wait until after breakfast. Jess…?”

“Hmmm…?”

“I’m happy. Can it just stay like this?”

“You do know whose life you’re talking about, right?” Something would happen, inevitably. Still, he could not help but smile. Yah. Things were good right now.

“Just for a few weeks, No catastrophes, no accidents, just we, and our family.”

“Don’t you think that would be boring?”

“You know whose life you are talking about, right?” she repeated his question, slowly disentagling.

“Come on, let’s get back to bed.”


	51. Girls are complicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The instruction manual that comes with girls is 800 pages, with chapters 14, 19, 26 and 32 missing, and it's badly translated… (Hugh Laurie)

She was doing this on purpose, of that Luke was sure. He had told her for the eighth time now to sit down and let him handle the Christmas tree. With all the crap that had happened lately, they were late anyway, who else was putting up their Christmas tree on the 25th in the morning?

And Lorelai wanted to help. It was driving him nuts that his wife who was more rolling than walking lately, and only three weeks away from her due date thought she was 16 again and should not stay in bed because of her back spasms.

He felt like throwing a tantrum, reminding himself on their early days when she drove him up the wall all the time for various reasons. She still managed to do that, though the thought of _why don’t I just banish that crazy woman from my Diner_ had vanished somewhere along the way of falling in love. And there were only very few times he had been really pissed at her. Since this was only his childish significant other, and no car crashes and break ups were involved, Luke just heavily sighed.

“Lorelai…”

The woman in front of him rose to her tiptoes, putting another decoration on the tree, while her large belly almost pushed off everything at lower levels.

“What? Don’t you want it to look nice, you Grinch? It’s our first Christmas in our new house, and I tolerate that you won’t decorate the Diner, but we will decorate the house and have a nice party with my parents and the kids!”

Her expression told him that this would blow up in his face I-kill-you-Taylor-like, so he just rolled his eyes, walked up next to her and took the ball ornament out of her hand.

“I’m not saying that I don’t want to decorate. I’m saying that your place should rather be on the couch, from where you can tell me where you want this flimsy stuff before you toss over the tree.” No, this was not being a softie, this was just self-preservation and the _yes, dear_ attire every man knew by heart after three months of _I’m sick because of you_ , six months of _I’m getting fat because of you_ and a lifetime of _I ruined my figure because of you_. Though, up to now he only got the _I’m sick because of you_ , and a crying fit because some of her favorite shoes did not fit anymore. With that he could live.

Lorelai just snorted amusedly, stealing a quick kiss.

“It’s your kids that need that much space. Maybe they got your Grinch genes and also don’t like Christmas?”

“Seriously, Lorelai? The Grinch nickname is getting old. You call me that every Christmas.” He pecked her back, putting the ball ornament in place and held up something that looked like a metal bird with feathers stuck up its rear end. The bird did not look amused.

“Where the heck do you find absurdities like that?!”

Lorelai sat down on her couch, putting one leg under her butt, only to find out that this was once more a position that had been way more comfortable without the added weight of two kids plus what else had gathered on her hips from her excessive fruit diet lately.

“That is something Emily gave us a long time ago for Christmas. Rory and I have been crying with laughter when we unwrapped them…”

“Them?”

“There should be three more. They are so ugly and ridiculous that we kept them.”

She was briefly expecting a trademark rant about Christmas as a holiday for the gift card industry and excessive consumption, but also Luke still managed to surprise her.

He put the bird onto the tree without further remark and started digging through their ornament box for the other three.

Lorelai just sat there on her couch and started petting Paul Anka as he joined her, watching her husband. Who would have thought…?

***

To say they were stuffed was an understatement. Stuffed had been half an hour before, and at least Jess was contemplating to secretly open the button of his pants now.

When Rory and Lorelai announced that they still wanted dessert, Richard, Luke, and Jess let out a pained groan. How the hell could they eat that much?

“Please, Lorelai, I will explode if I eat anything before next Tuesday. Just open your gifts and let us rest for a while, will you?” Emily asked, one hand resting softly against her stomach. It had been delicious. And while she normally stopped before the feeling of being full could set in, this time she just had ignored it and was not quite sure if she would not regret it.

“I feel somehow bad that I’m the only one getting gifts here”, Lorelai stated. Luke and her, as well as Jess and Rory had decided to not exchange gifts this year. Jess being Jess had dragged along something wrapped up that looked like a book, anyway, and she was astonished when it ended up next to the twin trolley her Mom and her Dad had put under the tree.

Currently, Doula was test-driving, or rather test-sleeping it, while both Emily and Rory had made a fuss of picking a date to finally do _their_ trolley shopping.

Jess stood up from the table, suppressing a groan and fetched the neatly wrapped gift from under the tree.

“I actually did not know if it would be finished until today. Your _Thank-you!_ card should go to Fedex and their overnight service… well, and to Matt, because he’s been nagging our printer guy until he did one single book. Chris did the cover.”

This got Lorelai’s attention and she reached out, making grabby hands. “Gimme!”

Ignoring her neat-freak daughter’s “Mom, don’t rip the paper, it’s so…”, she tore off the wrapping paper, finding her name jumping at her.

_Lorelai Gilmore-Danes._

Then, there was an _and_ followed by _Jess Mariano._

_Insane Fairytales_.

A big, overweight, glittery fairy was plastered all over the cover, grinning madly and sporting a rocket backpack between her wings.

It made her smile instantly. She had told him about her early years with Rory, when she had been that estranged from Richard and Emily that she was visiting exactly once a year, for the Christmas party fancying the apple tarts.

She had never been fond of the brothers Grimm, their fairytales were quite violent (Come on, making Snow White’s Mom dance in glowing shoes until she died? What messed up mind came up with that?!), and, well, not including many fairies. So she had made up some of her own, and even though she did not remember the entire setup of them, she had told Jess roughly how they went during his vigil in her house after the first back spasms. The overweight fairy with her rocket backpack to be able to fly anyway was one of their favorites.

Obviously, he had filled in some empty spaces, the book was quite thick.

Jess joined Rory who still sat at the table, eyeing the mashed potatoes. Maybe, a tiny spoon more…

A warm hand running over her shoulder made her look up and after a brief glance towards her fiancée she turned again to watch her mother.

“Rory helped fill in some gaps, but didn’t want her name on the cover”, her son-in-law commented.

“So, actually, the gift is from both of you”, Lorelai smiled, opening the book. Her breath caught as she read the dedication.

_For Mommy. You’ll always be my number 2._

“Jess did all the work, some of the tales are even better now. I merely filled in some minor gaps”, Rory said, watching her mother tear up.

“Mom, are you ok?”

Lorelai started to furiously wipe away tears, smiling at them. “I’m fine, I’m fine, just stupid hormones here.” Yah, sure, hormones. He had started using the word Mommy around her more often lately, mostly addressing her when they were mocking each other. Coming to think of it, she only was treated with her first name, lately, when she annoyed people, getting some rolled eyes and an exasperated _Lorelai…_

“Chris also did some illustrations on the inside, he and Matt loved the book and ask if you’d be ok with Truncheon publishing it.”

“You want to publish my stupid shenanigans?” She was still not done being emotional about the dedication and he was telling her that they liked her crazy stories that she had invented because Rory was into fairies and afraid of most of the main characters in the brothers Grimm’s book when she was a child.

“Yup”, was his answer, his cheesy grin fading to a shocked expression as Rory really picked up the spoon from the mashed potatoes bowl and started on scratching out the remainders.

“One day you will explode, Ror.”

“Never. I told you, it’s a special power!”

 ***

Lorelai just could not wipe the smile from her face. Richard had Doula in his arms, the baby was happily gurgling as the older man read to her from the _Insane_ _Fairytales_ , modulating his voice with every character that was appearing.

Emily sat on the armchair right next to the Christmas tree, having Paul Anka’s undivided attention as she was wielding the broccoli over his nose, making him sit up and beg, or shake hands. Her mother had been so amused about his barking at the word _Pizza_ while staying completely silent at _Salad_. She then had decided that the dog was definitely capable of more tricks and obviously took matters into her hands.

Jess had just disappeared in the kitchen with Luke to take care of the dishes when Rory quietly approached her.

“Mom… can we talk? Maybe somewhere… upstairs…?”

The older woman watched her daughter closely. She knew that something was bugging her ever since the fire, but usually, Rory was coming to her when she needed help. Or, she could talk to Jess now.

“Sure kid. I have to go to the bathroom anyway, your brother thinks that my bladder is a great pillow… and my diaphragm is a trampoline…”

“I think your intestines are between them and your diaphragm, Mom”, Rory answered, pulling her mother up.

“Yah, tell that to Sid, I think he’s never heard of that”, Lorelai groaned as she let herself being pulled up and joined her daughter on the way up to Luke’s and her bedroom.

Rory was still sitting on the spot on the bed, not having moved an inch, when Lorelai had finished her business and joined her again. Flopping down elegantly onto the mattress was not an option anymore, so she just sat down next to her daughter.

“Ok. What’s wrong?”

Rory was really busy watching her fingers.

“Charlie offered me a job at the Stamford Eagle-Gazette once I’m done with College. A real job, not just the tiny editing jobs he’s been delegating to me from the _Uninteresting to most people, but those who read it will be pestering us with mail if it’s not there_ Department.”

“Charlie…?” Pregnancy brain was a bitch, Lorelai hated the questioning expression with which she was looking at her daughter, but still, she did not remember who that guy was, so…

“Charles Eichner from the Stamford Eagle-Gazette? The paper I’ve been working for since I decided to do something else with my life than living in a pool house and dating Sebastian Valmont?”

Lorelai snorted at that comment, being reminded of her conversation with Emily.

“Oh… yeah. You never tell much about this, I actually did not know you were still doing it. But if he is offering you a fulltime job there, what’s the problem? Is it so boring that you never mention it? Or are you doing some really secret stuff?”

Rory smiled at that, shaking her head.

“No, I’m not doing a secret undercover story, and yes, it’s boring… and… well… the paper belongs to Mitchum Huntzberger, Mom…”

“Oh…” Okay, that was one big reason to turn that offer down. “Sweety, there is tons of other papers you can apply to. Does Charlie know of the situation between you and the Huntzbergers?”

Rory nodded.

“Yes, he does… hell, everyone noticed how cheerful and happy I was once I had made up my mind and left Logan. There were actually quite a few people telling me that it was about time, Charlie being one of them. He told me he has some connections to the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune and would pull some strings… but in the end it is his decision whom he hires, and the board members don’t care so much about Mitchum’s animosities.”

“So…?

“I don’t wanna go to California or Illinois, Mom.”

“Sweetcheeks, if you wanna be a foreign correspondent then you’ll have to go abroad, eventually…”

Rory once more was intently watching her fingers.

“That’s the other thing… I don’t want to be a foreign correspondent anymore…”

Lorelai took a deep breath, reaching out for Rory’s hands.

“Why?”

“Because…”, her daughter’s voice caught, making Lorelai jump in.

“Because you have your house, and your fiancée, and your family here and you don’t want to leave…” Her eyes narrowed. “Did Jess say anything that…?”

“NO!” Rory exclaimed. “No, no, no… he never said anything, even though I think he’s not very thrilled of me going abroad for a job, but he would deal with it…”

“Did you talk to him about this?”

Rory meekly nodded.

“Aaaaand?” Boy, why did she have to pull everything out of her daughter’s nose?

“He told me that Yale does not only train foreign correspondents, and they also need journalists elsewhere…”

“He is right about that, you know?”

The first tear started to fall after Lorelai had said that.

“Rory…?”

Rory threw herself in her mother’s arms, hiding her head in the crook of her neck as she cried.

“Rory?!”


	52. Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Marilyn Monroe)

Lorelai waited for Rory to calm down, strangled sobs decreasing to hickups before untangling from her, making her look up at her.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

Wiping away the tears and smearing what was not already underneath her eyes of her mascara while doing so, Rory took a deep breath.

“If I knew that… I… in the last months everything I was working for somehow became unimportant, and somehow I was fine with it, thinking that something would come up. I may not have told you about the tiny editing jobs that I got from the Stamford Eagle-Gazette, but I was bickering with Jess over what a pain in the ass it can be to edit stuff from people that simply cannot write… and how in the end it feels good to make something good out of a piece of work that normally would not have made it into the paper…”

Once more running her hands over her face, Rory did nothing to improve her Panda looks… actually, she was aiming for a rather weird version of Gene Simmons now, but Lorelai tried very hard not to make any KISS references now that her daughter was spilling her guts.

“I knew for quite some time now that I was not cut for being a foreign correspondent. And then Jess came along and asked me to help with the fairy tale book… and I had fun with it and was already writing the recension in my head for the Stamford Eagle-Gazette, should the Truncheon really publish it…”

Another heavy sigh made the older woman almost sigh along. “Kiddo, what happened?”

“Someone told me to not come running crying about my boring life when writer boy has his breakthrough in about 20 years and leaves me for a younger version of myself, while I sacrificed all my dreams, stayed at home with our 2.3 kids, supporting the artist genius.”

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at that.

“Do you want me to castrate Logan now, or rather later? You know, when I’m in labor, I might actually get away with it.”

That got a tiny laugh out of Rory. She turned earnest again, then.

“He was right, somehow… I gave up on my dreams, and I am staying at home with…”

“No.”

“But, Mom…”

Lorelai answered with another fierce “No!”

Then her voice got softer again. “You did not give up on your dreams. They have changed, and you just don’t know what to do next. And you are staying at home with Doula because you are on holidays. Before, you have been working your ass off to finish your finals, and you have been working really hard for it! You are doing it again, Rory, you feel overwhelmed by what is happening to you and what is happening around you, and this little shit managed to make you even more self-conscious, just like Mitchum did back then. Please, don’t go stealing any more yachts, will you?”

Rory gaped at her mother.

“But… what am I supposed to do now… except for stealing a yacht?”

“Exactly what you are doing now. Don’t bottle things up. If you don’t feel comfortable discussing stuff like that with Jess, then come to me. Make your Pro/Con lists. Would it hurt to start out at the Stamford Eagle Gazette? Does it really matter that it belongs to Mitchum? Or would it mean that you can shove it into his face what exactly he was belittling back then? Do what you normally would do. Ask around, you have been discussing other newspapers with Jess before. You will soon be finished with college and I know this can be overwhelming and frightening, not knowing what will come afterwards. But you have me, you have Jess, and Luke and your Grandparents. Nobody here will think less of you just because you don’t know yet what exactly you want to do with the rest of your life. Do you think I wanted to be the manager of a hotel when I started out as a maid? I loathed making the beds of other people… and see where I am now.”

Before Rory could answer to that, a knock on the door made both women look up as Luke stuck his head into the room.

“Is everything all right in here?” he asked, frowning at the disheveled appearance of his step-daughter.

“We may have to hide a corpse sometime soon”, Lorelai answered, dragging the younger woman close and giving her another hug.

“Just tell me when to get the shovel”, Luke said, before disappearing again, making both Lorelai and Rory laugh.

“You know that Jess would never leave you, don’t you? The boy’s been pining for you since he first saw you”, she whispered against her daughter’s hair.

“Yes… of course I do… I just had another Huntzberger crawling around in my head again.”

Sitting up on the bed, Rory looked at her mother.

“Thank you, Mom… I actually might annoy my fiancée this night with making a couple of Pro/Con lists instead of going to bed.”

“I think he might be delighted, Sweets. Can we go downstairs again, now, Mr. Simmons? Luke made chocolate pudding for desert.”

Rory’s answer was a questioning frown, then her hand reached up to her face.

“Oh… I’m gonna wash my face, I guess. And then we can show our men what it means to have the stomach of a Gilmore girl.”


	53. Yes, dear!

“Luke, please sit down, you’re making me dizzy!”

Lorelai watched her husband for almost 10 minutes now, talking to himself in one of his under-the-breath rants while gesturing to himself and running around in circles, and she was not quite sure what had triggered it.

It was New Year’s Eve, they would be celebrating in Hartford and also stay the night at Richard’s and Emily’s place, together with Rory, Jess and Doula, and some of her parents’ friends.

“Luke…”

He still did not listen to her, ranting about seatbelts now, which had Lorelai frown. They had had the car discussion before. After the scare with her car’s engine she had managed to have it replaced, and while Luke maybe did not understand her sentimental clinging to her Jeep, he also had not further commented on it.

Well, except for the fact that he wanted to sell his truck and buy a minivan.

After she was done laughing about the mental picture of Luke in a minivan, she had talked him out of it. The Jeep was perfectly fine and he needed the truck.

The rant shifted from seatbelts to baby seats and what a fortune they cost.

“Luke.”

Lorelai leaned back on the couch, her hands resting on her bump (which was rather a BUMP by now) and rolled her eyes. Seriously? They also had had this conversation, and actually, the car seats for Sid and Nancy were already waiting in the basement for their first usage. Still, even though most pregnancies with multiples were not carried to term, she had still two more weeks to go, and nothing was pointing towards her immediate popping.

The rant shifted towards baby food and what a fortune that cost, Luke still running up and down in front of the couch.

“LUKE!!!”

The sheer volume of her voice made him jerk around, finally reacting to her tries to figure out what was wrong. Before she could say a thing, he opened his mouth again.

“We’re staying home tonight.”

That got him the mother of all frowns, and then a grim expression from his wife. He had been so relaxed and calm the past months when she thought he would be freaking out on a daily basis because of all of the changes.

And now, that all was settled and they only had to wait for the twins to come he decided to freak and become overprotective?! When her Mother’s description of the food already made her mouth water?

“No, we’re not.”

“Lorelai, you…”

“Luke, I am serious, this is one of the rare occasions where you should do your duty as a husband, nod your head and answer _Yes, dear!_ Because this is most probably the last occasion _I_ have the chance to be around my family without two little babies being in constant need of my attention. Whatever has freaked you out now, just shut it. I am fine, I will let you know the second that changes, and actually, around Hartford it’s way easier to get to a hospital when compared to Stars Hollow.”

Her blue gaze made him actually squirm a bit, shoulders tense.

With a sigh, her voice got softer.

“I am really fine, Luke. And I am really looking forward to that party. Hey, maybe Dipshit Huntzberger will appear, you could let him know what you think about his messing with Rory’s head.

Her husband stared at her for a moment.

“Great… now you’re luring me to a party at your parents’ place in the middle of a snowstorm with the vague promise of me being allowed to kill that oaf.”

“That’s my Luke, always see the bright side. And two snowflakes are not a snowstorm, by the way”, she answered with a smile and a tilted head, making him chuckle.

“Yes, dear…”

***

 

“What has Luke so grumped up today?”

Rory bounced down onto the couch next to her mother who was just smiling at a very considerate waiter who not only passed by with every tray by her couch, but also brought her a drink and a plate so she could have more of the canapes.

Actually, she had thought this would be only a small thing, family and a few friends, but Emily Gilmore rarely did go for small. At least there were only people they liked. And no Huntzbergers.

“Your step-father decided it was time to go all overprotective on me the one time I actually _wanted_ to visit my parents. Guess who won. I intend enjoying the time until I pop.”

Rory snickered at that, snatching one of her mother’s canapes from the plate and popping it into her mouth.

“And he was so relaxed about everything… I thought you were dosing him with valium or stuff…”

Maneuvering her food out of Rory’s reach, Lorelai made a face at her daughter.

“Find your own waiter to spoil you with all the good stuff.”

Leaning back on the couch, the younger Gilmore leaned against her mother.

“I made a decision, you know.”

Lorelai just tilted her head, patiently waiting.

“I’m gonna take the job at the Stamford Eagle-Gazette. I like the people there, I like the editing job, and I have to start somewhere, right? And no, I’m not doing this because it is the easiest way. I drove Jess nuts the past days with all my lists…”

Bumping Rory’s shoulder, Lorelai smiled.

“You happy?”

“Yes. And relieved. I feel way better now that I made that decision. Charlie was thrilled to bits when I called him.”

“And Jess?”

“Uhm… I may have been a bit rude when he disturbed me… He’s been answering to all of my questions with _Yes, dear_ and saluting me for the last two days. I think I may have to make up for that to him…”

“TMI, kiddo! TMI!!!”

“Really? Since when is there TMI for you? You’ve been asking me all details about Doyris’ getting back together.”

“Yeah, but that’s like watching a telenovela staring Paris and Doyle. By the way, when are they going to kick Izzie out of Grey’s Anatomy? I couldn’t stand her at the beginning, and now she’s making Alex feel bad…”

Rory shook her head and smiled.

“You are totally seizing the opportunity to enjoy your last baby-free moments, huh? How many episodes have you watched in the past days?”

“Uhm… almost the entire season. Is it only me who sees this marriage of the two of them doomed?”

“Mom, you never liked Izzie. Just as you also never liked George. Those two are the puppies of the show!”

“No. They are annoying. Alex and Mark are the puppies. And I never thought I had a thing for redheads, but I just love G.I. Joe.”

“You just say that because you love Christina. Oh boy, I missed those conversations! Can I still call you in the middle of the night and talk about movies, or weird dreams, Mom?”

“Of course you can. Actually, you have to, because I will be bored beyond belief while feeding your siblings in the middle of the night.”

Both women were laughing, and Lorelai grabbed her plate again, devouring another of the delicious canapes and offering the last bit to her daughter.

“Could you find Luke and bring him here? I’d like to make out with my husband at midnight.”

“TMI, Mom!”

“Pft, as if the two of us were not your daily soap-opera.”

“No, I’m also hooked on _The life and love of Doyris_.”

“That title sucks, kid. It’s _Doyris of our lives_.”

“Please, never let Paris know about that… I’d like to keep my head. She’s still trying to rope Jess and me into a double date, because obviously that’s what friends do. God bless having Doula, she’s the best excuse ever to not share a Dinner date with them…”

Both of them chuckled again, Rory leaning against her mother.

“Hey, Mom, you know what?”

“Hmm?”

“Whenever you really feel bored when feeding Sid and Nancy you can also give me a call, no matter what time.”

“Oh, Sweets, I definitely will do that, just don’t blame me for ridiculing you in front of all your colleagues when Supermom calls you in a meeting and complains about her sore nip…”

“TMI MOM!!!!! You can call Jess for complaining about that!”

“And scar the poor boy for life? I’d never do that.”

“You just threatened to do that to me.”

“Well, since you know them intimately, I think…”

“You know what, Mom, I will stand up now and go looking for Luke, because I don’t want to have this conversation.”

With that the younger woman leaped up from the couch and started to stalk away.

“Go find the cute waiter while doing that. I’m still hungry, someone ate my food”, Lorelai called after her, making her snort.

When Rory just turned around and walked away, Lorelai raised her voice again.

“You know that the correct answer was _Yes, dear_ , right?!”

 


	54. Welcome!

Luke sighed deeply as he parked the truck in front of the hospital a week later, throwing his wife a look.

“We’re there”, he said, watching the building in front of him as if he was being lead to the scaffold.

“Yeah, you know, that’s where you have babies, they built a room for it, and you don’t have to clean up the mess you made”, Lorelai joked while working to unbuckle her seatbelt, receiving another _you are nuts_ look from her husband.

“Come on Luke, we’ll be there for one or two hours, say hello to the twins and then we’ll be off again.” The seatbelt finally gave up its fight and Lorelai reached for the door handle.

Luke took another deep breath before stopping her.

“Wait a sec, it’s icy out there”, he said, before getting out and stepping around the car, opening the door for his wife.

“Uh, how knight in shining armor of you”, Lorelai smiled, pecking his lips before getting out of the car, which was a rather complicated task due to her roundness and her back that today had decided to trouble her just a little more than usually.

“God, I cannot wait until I can see my feet again. Am I at least wearing socks of the same color? Shoes that actually belong together?”

“You made me hold up six pairs of different winter boots before you decided on wearing these ankle booties, and why do I know what ankle botties are?!” the Diner man exclaimed.

Rory’s light blue Prius pulled up to the parking lot, which had Lorelai ignore him while she was busy waving at her daughter.

Locking the doors of the truck Luke also briefly waved at the other car.

“Remind me to ask Zach why this couldn’t wait until they were home again”, Luke grouched as he watched his step daughter park her car right next to them.

***

The women were cooing over the two baby boys for over half an hour now, while Luke, Zach and Jess were sitting in a corner of the room. The musician looked completely exhausted as if he had born both kids instead of fainting at the first sight of one of his sons and staying unconscious until everything was over.

“Oh god, we will never ever again have time alone… I think she doesn’t even know anymore who I am”, Zach whined as he watched Lane in the hospital bed, Lorelai on one of the chairs right next to the bed, holding Kwan.

Lane was just making Rory promise to be the Lorelai for her children while Rory was admiring little Steve.

“You should have thought of that before knocking her up, Van Gerbig”, Jess absentmindedly retorted, his eyes focused on Doula in his arms who was playing catch with his fingers. Luke threw him an amused smirk that he didn’t see because he was so absorbed by the baby.

Zach was just opening his mouth to retort something insulting about Jess’ little instant family when there was another knock on the door.

Brian rushed into the room, almost hyperventilating because he had already missed the first five hours in the twins’ lives.

***

“Thank god we’re out of that psych ward.”

It was Rory who finally expressed what all of them had been thinking.

It didn’t take long for Mrs. Kim and family to arrive, after Brian had burst through the door, and she was furious because her bible circle had been taking place when her grandchildren were born. Somehow, though, she still managed to bring the entire frickin’ bible circle along. Since the room was getting overcrowded, it was the perfect excuse to leave.

“You know, I like Lane… I’m just not quite sure what she’s been smoking when she chose that guy to be the love of her life”, Jess added, removing the baby seat from their brand-new trolley to put a sleeping Doula in the back of their car.

His fiancée swatted his arm.

“You know, there’s people who are asking me exactly the same”, she retorted, getting amused snorts from both Lorelai and Luke.

“Well, I know for sure that we will not inform the entire town as soon as our kids are born. It’s gonna be Rory, Jess, and your parents. One would think those freaks had something else to do than drop everything and rush here… It’s not like they’ll keep Lane forever in the hospital, she has to go home, eventually”, Luke ranted while opening the door of the truck for Lorelai and was surprised when she pecked his nose, gratefully accepting his help as she climbed into the car.

“Aw, there’s my grouch again. Do you really think _they_ informed the town? I bet either Babette or Miss Patty saw them. Stars Hollow’s gossip mill is faster than lightning. You’re coming over this evening, right, kids? Luke’s going to cook and I was thinking of _Rosemary’s baby_ for movie night…”, Lorelai asked, shifting in her seat to find a comfortable position. Maybe she should lay down again when she was at home.

This time it was Jess who was snorting.

“Preparing for the worst, huh?”

Lorelai just grinned while Luke sighed a “Better be safe than sorry.”

***

“I swear to whatever deity that will listen, you are driving me crazy, wife! Sit down!” Luke had just started preparing dinner, he had not even fired up the oven yet.

Lorelai indeed had taken a nap when they came home, though it was not a very restful one since she could not find any position that was really comfortable. Now, she was wandering around in the kitchen like a caged animal.

“I don’t want to sit. I’ll never get up again if I sit down now. Did you see Steve and Kwan? They are so cute. I’m so sick of being pregnant. I want my babies. Now. Do something.”

With a sigh Luke put down his knife and turned around, catching her.

“And what am I supposed to do?”

A mischievous smile appeared on Lorelai’s face…

“Well… we could…”

The doorbell interrupted her, reminding her that she had invited her daughter and her nephew/son-in-law.

“Or we couldn’t… would be highly inappropriate now, and actually it got us into all of this mess” she grinned, getting one of his exasperated expressions, complete with rolled eyes and everything.

At least he would have some decent help in the kitchen now and not someone who ate half of the ingredients when he had not even started on cooking.

And Lorelai had Rory to keep her occupied, and Doula to coo over.

Jess and he had just finished the sides and were starting to prepare the meat when Rory hurriedly entered the kitchen.

“OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod…”

“Ror, please tell me you didn’t watch the episode from Grey’s Anatomy with the gun rampage again… Both McDreamy and G.I. Joe survived, everything’s fine and…”, the younger man grinned while Luke did his patented eye roll. He would never get the affection of both women for this show… though he did like the dry, sarcastic wit of that one Asian doctor…

“No… No!” she threw him a searing look. “Don’t joke about Owen getting shot, my heart stopped for a second. But you might want to put that meat back into the fridge.”

“And we would do that because?”

“Because Mom’s water just broke.”


	55. Starting over

The elbow to his ribcage was slightly annoying, so Luke pushed against it, only to be puffed again.

“Luke, wake up! You’re missing the best part of the movie!”

Huh? What movie? Weren’t they supposed to be on their way to the hospital? Somebody was pinching his nose, now, making him open his eyes finally, only to find three slightly amused faces staring back at him.

His step-daughter was shoving another handful of popcorn into her mouth while his nephew was clutching a chips bag.

“You are the only person I know who can sleep through _Rosemary’s baby_ , seriously, Luke!” Lorelai was grinning at him, balancing a bowl with popcorn on her belly as he finally managed to sort out what had really happened this evening and his weird dream.

He had sent Lorelai out of the kitchen to play with Rory and Doula (and yes, sometimes both his wife and his step-daughter were like little children, sticky hands included, and that’s why he sent her to play…).He had cooked together with Jess, and walked in on a session of both women trying to invent vertical Jenga… okay, so it was more Lorelai talking about how funny it would be playing with the bars standing instead of laying and dragging out the game in order to show her daughter how it might work.

It didn’t really work, though the talk shifted from vertical Jenga to Jengkado (obviously a mixture of Jenga and Mikado, where you threw up the bars in the air and tried to build a tower out of them after picking them up without juggling another bar). All of this in top Gilmore-speak paired with giggling fits that had scared Paul Anka away from his place behind the couch to hide behind one of the bigger potted plants. Thank god Doula was a heavy sleeper.

Jess just threw his uncle a look. “It’s too late to run, I guess.”

Patting his nephew’s shoulder he answered with “Way too late, son”, before telling those two psych ward refugees in his living room that Dinner was ready.

They had sat in front of their TV then, and that’s obviously where he had fallen asleep.

“Are you okay, Luke?” Lorelai now asked, when he didn’t say anything.

Running a hand over his face, the Diner man shifted into a more upright position, frowning at the woman in the movie who was stuffing her face with raw meat.

“I had a weird dream. Must be contagious around the two of you… Jess was talking about those two doctors from your show being shot, and Rory was scolding him that he should not joke about it, and your water broke…”, he informed them, looking directly at his wife, knowing very well that they would bug him long enough to spill the contents, anyway.

“Aw, Sweets, but today’s Steve’s and Kwan’s birthday, it would be really mean if Sid and Nancy would steal it from them… and the only one getting shot was Burke so far, and bless whatever deity who removed that arrogant, full of himself…” Lorelai was on the verge of starting a full blown rant, but had to shift as another spasm ran around her lower back.

“Ow. Stupid back. Now, can we watch the movie, please? Nobody’s having any more kids today!”

***

The alarm clock on his night stand showed 4:03 a.m. when he finally woke to Lorelai’s prodding.

“Luke…”

“Mrm?”

“Luke, wake up!”

“Just remember you dream and tell me in the morning…”

That got him a swat that made him jolt into a sitting position.

“LUKE!”

“Lorelai!” Fiddling around until he found the switch of the lamp right next to his bed, he threw his wife an annoyed look threw squinted eyes, that quickly faded as he saw her pained expression.

“Is it your back again? Should we call the Doc? Or should I…?”

“Well… I thought it was my back… The spasms have grown to full blown contractions, however, that are more or less 10 minutes apart…”

Luke just continued watching her.

“Uh… you know, that means I am in labor, and that we should either get to the hospital or have lots and lots of plastic sheets in here, because I don’t wanna ruin my new bedroom… Luke?”

Her husband just chose to smile. He did not remember how he had reacted in his dream, but a tiny bit of him had always thought he would panic, and that in the end they would have to call Rory and Jess to handle things because he was a flapping mess on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

“I’ll go fetch your bag while you get dressed. You want me to call the kids now, or from the hospital?”


	56. All I ever wanted

Rory did not know whether she should laugh or just continue staring dumbfolded as her Grandparents made their appearance at the hospital.

They had just left their car in the same spot they’d been parking the day before when visiting Lane, and she was still busy practicing her rant at her mother for calling them when everything was already over, and then refusing to tell her the names of her newly-born siblings, when Jess pointed out the Jaguar almost skidding into the parking lot of the hospital, coming to a screeching halt right next to the Prius.

Richard had forgone the bow tie, and Emily was wearing jeans.

She had never thought that her Grandmother owned a pair of those.

When she started pestering the other woman about it, the two men just shared a knowing smirk, while Emily sighed.

“You are turning more and more into your mother, young lady.”

“Why, thank you, Grandma… Tell me, what’s next? Some Doc Martens? Uh, a band t-shirt! No, no, you absolutely need…”

Jess just smiled to himself while hooking the baby seat with Doula to his arm, staying behind the two women to not end up in the crossfire.

Richard appeared to have thought the same, ambling along next to the younger man.

“Who would have thought this would turn out like this?” he asked no-one in particular, making Jess shrug.

“You know our lives. If you’d write it, people’d call you insane…”

 

***

 

“I think we’re wrong here, Luke’s smiling and we are in a hospital”, Jess whispered into Rory’s ear after they had entered Lorelai’s room.

While Rory still giggled, Luke threw them a glance through narrowed eyes.

“We will have this conversation again after your first kid was born, _nephew_ ”, the Diner man then said, shifting a bit on his chair. Who would have thought that a new born baby with five and a half pounds would get this heavy with time? Still, he did not want to let go yet of the baby boy, so he shifted his elbow to the armrest of his seat and… oh, so that’s how you kept your arm from cramping.

While his nephew was still busy finding a place for the baby seat so Doula could keep sleeping without being disturbed, the other three people had made their ways towards the bed, where Lorelai sat with their baby girl, alternating between smiling at her husband, her other baby, and the little princess in her arms.

“I think I should feel neglected. Now Mommy cannot direct her full attention at me anymore”, Rory pointed out, making a beeline around the bunch of people crowding around Luke and stopping next to the bed to hug her mother who was laughing at her firstborn’s comment.

“Aww, kiddo, I’ll buy you a doggy… or a kitty… wait, we already have Paul Anka and Ernest, that won’t work. How about a pony? Oh, and by the way, there will be no more siblings… or waaaayyy more drugs the next time, because giving birth still hurts, and I’m not exactly 16 anymore.”

Rory snorted.

“Mom, not even I am exactly 16 anymore. I thought about entering the forever 21 club, but then this traitor named birthday appeared again last year. I guess that’s my baby sister, huh?”

Lorelai smiled at the tiny infant in her arms and then winked at Rory.

“No, I thought it was funny putting your baby brother in all this pink.”

“Oh, good, he will learn about humiliation already before Mommy can turn up at his school in a tank top and the shortest jeans shorts she could find.”

Lorelai rolled her eyes.

“I did that one time. Now, do you wanna hold lil’ Jessica or not?”

She almost burst with laughter when Jess spun around, a shocked expression on his face.

“Oh god, please tell me you didn’t…?”

Lorelai just looked at him, blue eyes locking on brown, engaging in a staring duel that nobody would end first. Even though Lorelai was doing her best to fight a laughing fit.

It was Emily who sighed, finally. “Lorelai, stop torturing Jess and enlighten us, please, how did you name your boy? Jessica is a really beautiful name.”

This time, Lorelai and the rest of the people in the room burst with laughter at the incredulous look Jess sent his grandmother-in-law.

“You are evil. All of you!” he accused then, a tiny smile also curling around his lips as Rory took the little girl out of her mother’s arms, cooing at the baby.

“Her name is Emily”, Lorelai said then, having her mother gape at her. Before the older woman could say anything, her daughter continued.

“Emily Constance Danes. We will end up calling her Nancy anyway, so that’s her name.”

“Well, at first she tried to name her Lorelai, III. I still can’t believe that I managed to convince her of something else”, Luke piped up, having the entire room look at him now.

While the adult Emily was speechless, it was Richard who broke the silence this time.

“That is wonderful. I hope you did not name the little man after me? Richard is not really modern name.”

Luke shifted the boy in his arms so that he was facing his grandfather.

“This is William. We could not really agree on a second name, yet, because William Sidney somehow sounds weird.”

“No, it does not. He’s gonna be Sid anyway.” Lorelai said, making grabby hands for her newborn daughter. Rory only reluctantly gave her back and made space for her grandmother while Richard moved next to Luke.

 Stepping up to Jess her arms went around his waist, her head leaning against his shoulder.

“Do you think Grandma and Grandpa have any clue who Sid and Nancy actually are?”

Jess just hugged her back and laughed.

 


	57. The circle closes

It’d be nice to say that they lived happily ever after then, right? Well, for quite some time they did just that, living, happy, a family bigger than it used to be, with more understanding for each other.

Jess and Rory got married in spring, in the middle of their small-town, in the gazebo, and even though Jess made one joke after the other, he just wasn’t able to wipe this smile out of his face. Christopher had walked Rory down the aisle while Gigi tried to throw a tantrum at the same time because her father was not directing all of his attention at her.

Emily had been the one who was able to control the kid – to be honest, Gigi had been afraid of her, which was not actually good, but at least the wedding could go on without a squealing child that should be able to sit still for at least some time, while the heap of babies and toddlers present didn’t make a fuss. At least this told Chris that he had to change something in his way of raising his kid.

Doula was still with them, while Liz and TJ were still in rehab, both for their burns and substance abuse, and the post-partem depression. It would not be easy, though, the doctors were not actually happy with their easy-going attitude to approach their life and what came with rehabilitation.

Random house actually had published Jess’ short novel, and the Truncheon had published the Insane Fairytales. Interestingly, but not really surprising, at least to the person who wrote both books, the fairy tales were more successful and did well not only on a national level. Bless Lorelai, her need to meddle and people from Europe owning publishing companies that wanted to stay at tiny Inns in Connecticut.

Luke and Lorelai had their hands full with their twins, but just like Rory had been, both were easy and quiet, a fact that made Lorelai wonder more than once if both of them really were hers and had not been interchanged at the hospital by chance.

***

Jess and Rory bought Andrew’s book shop one year after their wedding. The shop had still been abandoned, nobody was taking care of it and Stars Hollow missed just that – their second book shop. Jess was still about to finish his first real novel, and Rory had decided to take up business school after finishing her journalism studies. She was still working for the Stamford Eagle Gazette, having a weekly column there now in the politics department. They wanted to try and franchise the Truncheon, though, so business school would not hurt, and let’s face it, she was better suited for stuff like that than Jess.

They had not heard from Liz and TJ when Sid and Nancy were taking their first steps. They had not even called for their own daughter’s birthday three months before. Doula had started talking by then, after all she was living in a household that entertained two Gilmore girls, counting in Emily it were even three, and their ability to talk a mile a minute.

Her first word had been “Papa”, and it was directed at Jess. The “Mama” directed at Rory followed a few minutes later, leaving them both in tears. The decision to look into possibilities to permanently keep the child was easily taken after a few more weeks without contact to her biological parents. They had finished rehab a while ago, and did not even think it was necessary to return to Stars Hollow. Actually, they just had disappeared at some point

Jess had tried to keep in contact, had tried to not keep Doula from his mother. Liz’ maniac behavior never changed, as well as the fact that both she and TJ mostly forgot about their child when not directly reminded. Secretly, he was glad that Liz once more was just being Liz. No court would give them the kid back. So they started arranging for Rory to adopt Doula.

Luke by then had managed to convince Lorelai of finally buying a minivan. The Jeep had died somewhere along the way, and while Lorelai tried to talk him into getting a new engine for the old car, he had stood his ground this time. The Jeep was old, it had been already old when she got it, and he didn’t trust the thing anymore.

Sid’s first word was “Grandpa”. It sounded like Gampa, but he sat on Richard’s lap, was looking at the man and smiling him with his eight teeth during their monthly brunch at Luke’s Diner. Emily tried to teach Nancy Grandma as her first word. It turned out to be a version of “Coffee” in the end, making not only Lorelai laugh in delight.

Doula was slightly confused by all the Grandmas and Grandpas around her, since Luke and Lorelai had started addressing themselves as such around her. After a while, though, she just accepted that there were more than just two, and whoever was closest would come when she said their name.

***

Rory stayed as a freelancer with the Stamford Eagle Gazette after two years, their flourishing publishing company procuring more and more tiny shops that started out like the Truncheon, looking for a more stable environment that would still leave them some of their freedom instead of just buying them like the big publishing houses. She simply did not have enough time anymore to work as a journalist on a regular basis, and actually, what she was doing now was far more fulfilling for her than writing about what other people in the world were doing.

Jess was on his second novel, and the first was selling well. Matt and Chris were bugging Lorelai for a sequel to the insane Fairy tales. She happily contributed, even though some of the tales sounded more like the epic fights between Taylor and Luke.

Paris and Doyle finally got married this year, after she deemed that being engaged for two years was enough. Lane and Zack had another baby, and Steve and Kwan were super-jealous of their baby sister.

Lorelai actually added a Spa section to her Inn, which had been not that easy to do because Sookie once more was not the biggest help, complaining to Lorelai that she also had to take care of three children and not just the Inn, that Luke was just on her side, because he was her husband and Michel was always on Lorelai’s side when it came to business.

It had been a sore spot between the two of them, after all, Sookie was not the only one with kids. In the end, Lorelai decided to do what was the best for her business. She was taking care of the numbers, of the money, of the daily things, and both Sookie and Michel left most of that to her. And Luke was a silent partner, and investor who had decided that since the Diner was doing as well as always that they should go for it.

Richard retired that year. Or, at least he tried to. He joined an association of retired people who had been working in the big business, offering their council to people who were just starting up or had some problems. Emily was quite happy about that. After his first try to retire she had been afraid that he would haunt her again because he was bored beyond belief.

It was mid-December when Jess received a phone call from the youth welfare service in Montgomery, Alabama. Obviously this was where Liz and TJ, who miraculously still were an item, had moved to, not even giving a second thought about Doula.

They were obviously caring just as well for little Noah who had been living with them for the first two months after his birth, until some neighbors intervened when they realized that Liz and TJ were leaving the baby alone at home while they went out.

The fact that they were completely stoned when the police found them did not really help. When the authorities learned that there was an adult brother who was already taking care of their three-year old daughter they had contacted him.

Jess was beyond furious when he came for his baby brother, needing all his strength to not lash out at the person who once had been his mother, who once more was giggling like a lunatic and happy to once more sign over custody for a child she actually never really wanted.

When TJ complained that Noah had been way harder to take care off than Doula, Jess was happy that he was carrying so many things in his hands, or he would have punched the other guy. He left them with the advice for his mother to either stop sleeping with TJ or get sterilized. He did not say good bye, hoping he would never see them again

***

The next year, they had four birthdays to celebrate in October. Rory and Jess turned 26 this year and were more busy mocking a pregnant Paris about how she was treating Doyle as her personal slave than actually celebrating their respective birthdays.

Doula got her big fluffy Unicorn party for her fourth birthday, and did not quite understand why she had to share her birthday and her party with baby Noah. And she actually was grilling Paris about the fact that _her_ Mommy had not been fat before Noah arrived.

Noah’s first word was “Cat”, and if Ernest were able to speak his first word would have been “Noah”. The gray tomcat had moved out of Doula’s bedroom after some time, and stayed out of her way when she was a toddler after the first really hurtful pull on his tail. Noah and Ernest were a match made in heaven, the one never being far from the other.

The boy’s second love was Emily. While “Mama” and “Papa” soon followed “Cat”, everybody and everything was abandoned when “Emi” entered the room.

Liz never called for any of her kids.

Sid and Nancy celebrated their birthday together with Steve and Kwan, more or less the entire kindergarten playing in the snow in the park at the back of the Dragonfly Inn. Sookie tried to ban Luke from her kitchen and Michel complained about all the children. Lorelai was laughing about her father and her mother who were playing with all the children in the snow.

***

Richard had another heart attack the day after Sid and Nancy had turned five. Having to undergo open-heart surgery this time left him weak and inoperative for quite some time, however, it also re-installed Friday night dinners, even though they were only bi-weekly.

Even though he was weak, he liked having everyone around him. He had three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who made him happy, and Lorelai’s dog had somehow warmed up to him and was happy to be taken for walks once he felt up to it again. When Emily found out she made sure that they were visiting Stars Hollow at least twice a week so Paul Anka could take Richard for a walk.

The Diner, the Inn and the bookshop were thriving. Jess was working on his third novel and had an offer to make a movie out of the second.

Liz and TJ had been arrested for substance abuse and rental fraud twice since Jess had gotten custody for Noah, and just as with Doula, they had arranged that Rory could also adopt their baby boy. They also once more were remodeling the Crap Shack, thank God there was more space for rooms upstairs, because Noah could not sleep forever in their bedroom, and Doula should not have to share.

Tom was more than happy to once more be employed by the Gilmore-Danes-Mariano family.

It was mid-July when both Rory and Lorelai tried to simultaneously organize a family gathering at their houses, their bickering of who was allowed to house that thing annoying Emily enough to offer her house, her cook and her maid, only to figure out seconds later that obviously her daughter and granddaughter had counted on just this.

While she would have been mad to be played like this some years ago, now all she did was laugh and organize a garden party as it was really warm this year, where the kids could play in the garden and they would have a nice dinner.

Both Rory and Lorelai declined the champagne that day, and obviously this was something they had not pre-arranged. Both women were just staring at each other with big eyes, finding it impossible that they had managed to hide such a big secret from the respective other until they wanted to announce it to the entire family.

Their husbands just smiled at each other. The two of them were having phone calls every day, they still met weekly to watch Grey’s Anatomy (and boy, had everyone been shocked when Luke’s dream actually came true), they still shared almost everything, and Jess had found Lorelai more than once in their closet, looking for one specific t-shirt.

But somewhere along the way, their spouses had acquired a status that was similar, sharing secrets that the other woman did not necessarily have to know.

Both Lorelais were still staring at each other, declaring a “No way!!!” before grabbing each other’s hands and jumping around in a way that reminded Jess of the dance that he had to do with her in the hospital after they found out about Sid and Nancy.

Luke just put his arm around his nephew’s shoulder, pulling him into a very manly one-armed man-hug, none of them able to wipe the happy grins out of their faces.

Lorelai Sophia Gilmore-Mariano and Connor Gilmore-Danes were born in February only two days apart, the hospital staff nearly going crazy with the vast extent of the Gilmore family visiting daily, and the rest of Stars Hollow just popping in whenever they wanted. The entire place was buzzing with life.

Of course it was snowing those days.


	58. Epilogue

Lori was squeezing her boyfriend’s hand hard, knowing that Kwan was feeling even more nervous than she was. Her father could be pretty intimidating if he wanted to, and in the moment, after learning the news the two teenagers had to share, Jess did a pretty good impersonation of Rambo 1-3.

Which, to be honest, was still not as frightening as Lane’s face, her expression pretty close to Mama Kim’s at her best times. Somehow, Lori was glad that Grandpa Luke was still at the Diner. Zack apparently was dead set on letting his wife handle this, wearing a neutral expression.

Her Mom… Rory just looked at her, not really knowing what to say.

It was Grandma Lorelai who finally broke the silence.

“Condom jokes, Kiddo! Haven’t you learned anything from Mommy? Condom jokes, that’s how they learn to wrap it! Can I pick the name if it’s a boy?”

So, also the next generation of the Gilmores would start with teenage parents. This time, however, they would be able to rely on their family.

A family who vetoed Lorelai’s proposal to call their newest addition to the family Lorelus.


End file.
